Never Again
by whicker-pen
Summary: A marauders era story with an OC character added into the mix. I'm trying to follow cannon, but as it goes on, it will become more my own than JKR. Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Harry Potter
1. Chapter 1

**AN; Welcome. Not much to say at the beggining, but hope you enjoy.**

I smiled at my father as we walked into the pet shop. The Magical Menagerie, it was called. The store was a bit scary for an eleven year old girl, as it was rather dark and dank, because of all the animals. I was picking out my animal, my familiar, my companion for my upcoming years at Hogwarts, the best school of Witchcraft and Wizardry that there was. Well that was my mother's opinion anyway.

You see, I was born and raised in America, the same as my muggle father. But my mother, a witch (No, she is _not_ green!), was born and raised in England, the latest in a prestigious line of Irish witches and wizards (on her father's side). She completed her seven years at Hogwarts, and then took a job as an international diplomat between the Ministry of Magic in England, and the Department to Magical Beings in the United States. There's a whole lot more story here but you don't want to hear it, my parents met, fell in love, bada bing bada boom, me.

Fast forward to the now. I'm eleven, which I believe was already established, and I'm preparing to go into my first year at Hogwarts, which I am allowed to attend because of my dual citizenship in England and the USA. Although I am considerably more American than Brit, I jumped at the opportunity to study abroad.

"Hello, can I help you? Looking for your pet for Hogwarts I'd bet." The woman smiled at us while leaning on the counter. "Owl's are bright creatures; carry your mail for you."

"No, not an owl. Feel terrible getting the thing and exhausting it, flights across the Atlantic can't be good. Besides your mom has your mail going through the Ministry doesn't she?" I nodded to what Dad had said. I wasn't typically a shy kid, but the dark store startled me, with all the caged eyes.

"American?" She looked surprised, but shook her head and dropped the subject. "What were you looking for then?"

"A kitten." I finally piped up. The witch waved us over to an area where there were a few small cats playing together. I watched them for a bit, and smiled once I found the one I wanted. A small white mixed breed cat. "That one."

"Alrightly, this one we call Tobey, but you can rename him of course." The witch smiled and picked up my new kitten. Dad and I bought the cat, along with a new red collar (Charmed to never choke or chafe), and walked out of the store with him in his carrier to meet Mom. The only thing left on the list was my wand. As we walked towards Olivander's Dad asked me if I was going to change my kitten's name.

"A-huh. I'm going to call him Biely." I smiled, and Dad laughed.

"White, in Slovak. Very creative." Mom teased "I'm particularly surprised you didn't name him Cierny, for sarcasm's sake."

"What does that mean?" I asked. Although I'm half Slovak, I know very little of the language. I've picked up a few words, but neither of my parent's speak it fluently.

"Black." I pondered the new word for the rest of the walk to the wand store. I started at the sign for a moment, and wondered how the store had existed for 300 years BC, before walking in after my parents. Once I stepped inside I saw my mother was speaking to an older man with rather thick glasses. He asked her a question, obviously to see her wand, because she pulled it out and handed it to the man. As he held it, he smiled.

"This must be your daughter. Looks like you did at that age, except for the nose. No bump." Mom's hands flew to her nose where there was a boney bump, just as the man, who I'd assumed was Olivander, had said. The man then addresses me. "Hello dear, I'm Olivander, and I'll be helping your wand find you. Because as you know-"

"It's the wand that chooses the wizard." We chorused together. It was something that Mom had to have said t me hundreds of time, her response whenever I asked her what type of wand she thought I'd get. He nodded, and a bit of a surprised look graced his face. He smiled at me though, and started shuffling through piles of wands.

"Which hand is your wand hand?" I indicated my right hand to him and he came out from under a pile of boxes holding just one. Once it was pressed into my hand I knew it was right. A warm feeling flooded my grip, and what looked like a small fireworks show flared at the end of the wand. "15 and 2/3 inches of Cypress. Dragon heartstring core. Fine for a young witch."

As mom was paying for the wand, and saying goodbye to Olivander, the little bell above the door rang. I looked to see who else had entered the shop. A young boy, who looked to be about my age, walked in followed by his mother. He had black hair and glasses, and looked like he was itching to get his wand. I smiled at him, and walked over, hoping he would be one of my new classmates.

"Hello, I'm Nicole Tallo. I'm going to be in my first year at Hogwarts." I introduced myself. He grinned at me, his entire face lighting up.

"James Potter. Nice to meet you. I'll be starting Hogwarts day after tomorrow too." I was about to go into a deeper conversation with the boy, but my parents were done in the store and called for me.

"Sorry." I frowned. He shrugged.

"Parent's, what can you do? Anyway, hopefully I'll see you on the train." He waved and made his way over to his mother, who was taking a seat so she could watch his wand fitting.

The next day's passed in a blur, and before I knew it, I had run through the brick wall to get to platform 9 and ¾. For the first time in my life I saw the train that would take me off to school, a school that would teach me how to cast spells and brew potions. I would miss my parent's terribly, but we knew that it would happen, so we were as ready as could be.

"So you remember how to send us letters right?" Mom asked yet again. "Just address them to me at the Ministry, and I'll get them, whether I'm here or at the Department. Alright?" I nodded. Tears were starting to cloud my eyes. I hugged both my mother and father, saying my goodbye's until winter break. I turned away and climbed onto the steam engine, having loaded my trunk with Dad earlier. I walked up and down the corridor looking for a familiar face. I had met a couple other students' while we were staying at Mom's family's home, but I couldn't seem to find anybody to sit with. Finally I happened to run into a compartment that only had two people. They both looked to be about my age, and a tad nervous. This led me to assume that they were first years too.

"Hello. Can I sit here?" I stuck my head inside the compartment. The girl looked at me and smiled, nodding. The black haired boy barely paid me any mind.

"Of course. I'm Lily Evans, and this is Severus Snape. We are going to be first years. What about you?" The girl had auburn hair that was very pretty, and a kind voice. I stuck Biely's carrier and my robes on the shelf above our heads.

"Oh sorry. I'm Nicole Tallo, first year too. Nice to meet you Lily and Severus." The boy finally nodded at me. That was a little better, but only by a tiny amount. If I judged only by first impressions, I wouldn't want to socialize with this rude boy. The three of us chatted for a bit, and waved to our parents as the train pulled away from the station. Eventually we were interrupted by two black haired boy's invading our cabin.

"Nicole! I thought I'd find you eventually. This is Sirius, just met him this morning. Sirius this is Nicole, I met her the other day in Olivander's. Who are your friends?" James said at a rather rapid pace. I wondered how the boy could even speak that quickly.

"Lily Evans and Severus Snape. You two are welcome to join us if you need a place to sit." An even bigger smile broke out on the two boy's faces.

"Great. We had been sitting with a group of fifth year Ravenclaws, and all they were talking about was homework." Sirius spoke for the first time. He was about as tall as James, meaning I was a tad bit taller than him. He had slightly neater and longer hair than James, and grey eyes as opposed to Hazel.

"Ravenclaw?" Lily questioned, confused.

"Oh yeah. You don't know about that do you? Hmm well…" I started to explain. The whole conversation started to get a bit out of hand when the boys all started commenting on what house they would be in. Sirius, it turned out, like Snape came from a long line of Slytherins, but unlike Severus, he most definitely did _not_ want to be like the rest of his family. This entire thing lead to an enormous argument, where James and Sirius were rather mean, and Lily and Severus storming out.

"Did you have to be so mean?" I questioned, completely irritated with their behavior. I gave the two of them a look that completely expressed my disgust.

"Who are you? My mum?" Sirius asked. James had already decided to look ashamed, judging by my tone I guessed.

"If you continue to act like a child then yes. You simply can't go around acting like-" I was cut off in mid sentence by the compartment door opening yet again. This time a boy, yet again, appearing around our age, entered the compartment. He had dirty blond hair, and looked a little worse for wear.

"Could I sit here?" He questioned. I was surprised he was still looking for a seat this far into the train ride. I made introductions for the group this time.

"Course. I'm Nicole Tallo; these idiots are James Potter and Sirius Black." The boy nodded and moved towards an open seat.

"Nice to meet you. Remus Lupin." He gestured to himself. Then questioned "American?"

I explained to the boys the entire situation of how I came to be the only American in attendance. Each piped in once in awhile; sharing experiences they had with the ministry. James, it turned out, actually knew my mom's family. He actually recognized the name more than anything, but the connection was still there. Eventually talk of my family turned to talk of school. Eventually Remus and I started discussing books, and what we had read in the texts thus far. James and Sirius had entered a highly intense discussion about quidditch. As much as I enjoyed playing the sport, following the European Circuit had never been my thing.

"Biely!" I squealed when the kitten came toppling out of his carrier above. The train had just rounded a rather sharp bend, at a rather quick speed. Remus jumped when I squealed, and James and Sirius turned away from their heated conversation about which team would win the world cup to see what the problem was.

"What did you say?" Remus questioned me, shaking his head. "That can't have been English. Even American English."

"Slovak actually. Means white." I stared down at my kitten, petting him, as he fell asleep in my lap, happy to be out of his carrier.

"You speak another language?" James and Sirius joined into our new topic of conversation. James reached over to pet Biely, and she purred at his touch.

"Well I don't know much. Only a word here or there." I shrugged. Sirius sat with his head cocked to the side, and Remus encouraged me to speak the little bit I knew.

"Sliepka means chicken, medved means bear, biely means white, pes is dog, and ceirny means black. I only know one complete phrase." I was about to tell the boys the rest of my Slovak when a prefect stuck his head into the compartment. He let us know that we were almost there and needed to change into our robes. I climbed onto the seat and grabbed my robes from the shelf, placing the cat back in his carrier.

I went to step out of the compartment to change in a room down the hall when Sirius called out to me.

"What's the phrase you know?" For a second I was confused as to what he was talking about. With the interruption of the prefect and finding my robes I'd forgotten I was in the middle of a sentence.

"Oh, daj mi pusu." I said to him as I walked down the hallway.

**AN; Okay, so. Hi. Umm I hope you enjoyed that at least a little bit. Umm ever since I read the HP books, I was curious about the marauders. I'd read some FF about them, but wondered what would have happened to them all if another character had been thrown into the mix. Well let's see. What else to say. Nicole Tallo is based off me. Um this chapter was pretty much an introduction to the characters, and some shenanigans will start up in the next chapter. That one will have the feast, and the rest of the first night. Yeah pretty much. :D OH! In case you wanted to know how to pronounce the slovak words, I'll put that under the message.**

**Sliepka- sleep-ka**

**medved- med-ved**

**biely- be-le**

**pes- like pest, but without the t sound**

**ceirny- cheer-ni**

**daj mi pusu- die me bush**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Glad you're back! **

The ride in to the castle was probably the most breathtaking thing I had ever experienced. That was saying something, because I had been in Vermont, on Mount Washington, as the leaves were changing for the year.

Once we finally arrived at the castle, we walked into a large entrance hall. The size of the staircase was immense, as were the door leading into, what I could only assume was the great hall. I only got a moment's glimpse into the hall before we were ushered into a room to the side, but from what I saw it was immense, and rather loud, since it was filled with the older students. Once we were in the smaller room off the hall (It wasn't that small, since it had to fit around forty of us), a stern looking witch greeted us. She had black hair with flecks of grey pulled back into a bun, and looked at us like she was only waiting for us to misbehave.

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Professor McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher, and head of Gryffindor house. You will be joining your fellow classmates in a moment after the sorting. It has been brought to my attention that a rumor has gone around that to determine your houses you will be given a test on your magical skills and abilities. This is not true, and no such method is used in sorting. I will be back to retrieve you when we are ready."

I had not heard this rumor of testing our magical abilities, and wasn't aware that my classmates had been worried. Had I heard it, I would have tried to dispel it, knowing how we actually were sorted from my mother. Judging by the snickering coming from two black haired boys, I could tell where the idea originated.

"How old are you too?" I hissed under my breath, giving them a glare. I did not have enough time to say more, or hear their response. The professor came back in to gather us at that moment. I stood up straight, and followed the girl in front of me into the hall.

"As I call your name, please have a seat on the stool here. I will place the hat on your head. Once you are sorted, move directly to your house table." McGonagall announced to us, while a ruddy looking man ran up and placed a hat and stool next to her. Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, the hat (Which was almost as ruddy looking as the man), started to sing.

"_How many of you children_

_Have passed under my brim_

_Thinking, planning, waiting_

_Criticizing my trim_

_I'm not that fancy looking_

_But I sure am bright_

_The things I see in your head_

_Could give anyone a fright_

_Some are bold, others loyal_

_Some are smart, others sly_

_Which are you? Where do you fit?_

_Which House will make you fly?_

_A Gryffindor, a Hufflepuff_

_Ravenclaw or Slytherin?_

_Either way, what you learn here,_

_Will surely help you win._

_Now enough of talk_

_It's time to start, sorting all of you_

_This is only the beginning, just the start_

_I know things you'll wish you knew."_

"It sang. The bloody hat sang!" Sirius said behind me. James and I nodded in response, mouths hanging open. Remus had appeared next to us as we filed in (We had lost him on the boats), and laughed a bit.

"You didn't know? The hat always sings a song before the sorting." I believe that he was about to tell us more, but McGonagall shot a look our way, and started calling out names.

"Abott, Samule." As the boy went and sat on the stool, the entire hall turned towards him and waited in anticipation. The hat took little time on Samule, and he was declared a Ravenclaw rather quickly. The scrawny boy made his way over to the clapping table quickly.

"Black, Sirius." Professor McGonagall called out. James clapped Sirius on the back, and I whispered good luck in his ear. For a boy with so much confidence on the train, he seemed awfully nervous going up to that hat. He was pale, and looked as if he was dreading it with every fiber of his being. The sorting hat took a considerably longer amount of time deciding where to sort Sirius than it did the Abott boy.

"Gryffindor!" The hat roared to the hall after a few tense minutes. A rather weak hand of applause came from the table sporting red and gold ties. The sorting continued, sending students off to their houses. The girl from the compartment earlier, Lily Evans, was sorted into Gryffindor. I saw Severus Snape's face fall when her house was called out. I crossed my fingers for them, the seemed really close, that he would end up with her too.

In short order Remus and James both ended up in Gryffindor along with Sirius. An interesting looking pair of twins was sorted into Hufflepuff, along with a few others. The list was dwindling down to a few, and the crow surrounding me had dropped down to two others. All my hoping for Severus and Lily was wasted though, as he was sorted as he predicted earlier on the train, into Slytherin. I watched two boys (who would be getting a lecture about it later, if I had any say in the matter, especially as I hadn't gotten a chance to finish earlier) at the Gryffindor table snicker, as the red-head next to them became rather glum.

"Tallo, Nicole." With that I walked up to the stood and pulled the hat on my head. The thing was so large that it fell over my eyes. Although I couldn't see anything, suddenly a voice sounded.

_"Tallo… Tallo… Tallo…? No, I don't know that name. Muggle born then?" _The hat asked me. This I had been expecting.

"_No. Half blood. My mother went here, Patricia Quinn. Can we get on with the sorting then?"_ I questioned in my head, worried I would be awkwardly sitting on the stool for a long time.

_"Impatient aren't we, American too? I do remember a Quinn family coming through here, for many years actually, though they were Irish. Ravenclaw's mostly. We'll see then, won't we?"_

"Gryffindor!" The hat yelled out. I smiled, my friends were all there. I pulled the hat off my head, stood up and placed it on the stool. I skipped over to where James, Remus, Sirius, Lily, and the other new first years were sitting. I placed myself between James and Sirius, sitting across from the other two. As I sat, I raised both of my hands, and knocked the two of them upside the head.

"What was that for?" James hissed.

"Being a jerk." I replied shortly, "Now watch the last girl."

Vasil, Xylina joined us at the Gryffindor table. Out of the 43 (exactly, I counted as we were being sorted), nine were Gryffindors; we had five girls, and four boys total. I looked around at the group that I hoped would form my family here. Marline McKinnon, Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Xylina Vasil, Hanna Jones, Peter Pettigrew, and myself. It was an interesting group, and it would be an interesting seven years.

A gasp from the group surrounding me took me away from my day-dreaming, and I saw platters filled with delicious looking and smelling food. Apparently I had missed a couple words from Headmaster Dumbledore (Shame, I found out later that they were Agliff, and Epirot). As we dug in to the great feast in front of us I saw James and Sirius giving each other looks around my back. I tried to ignore them, and make conversation with Xylina and Lily.

"So, no, the general population in New Jersey does not say 'New Joi-sei'. Remus what is your issue?" I broke off what I was telling the girls, in an attempt to find out why Remus was flapping around like a wild man. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the words out a plate of mashed potatoes went flying into his face from the right of me. In the moment it took me to process it, a yell rang out.

"FOOD FIGHT!" And another platter of food went flying across the room. Apparently someone at another table thought it was a good idea to retaliate, and thusly food ended up flying across the room like it was on a broomstick.

I managed to duck under the table quickly, and avoided getting hit my much. There were a few bits of potato stuck in my hair, but I got away cleaner than Lily (Who had a piece of ham, with mustard, matted into her red locks) and Remus, who had both joined me under the table. I looked up to the head table, to see what the professors thought of the activity. Professor Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling, and he was laughing, while pulling some chips out of his long white beard. McGonagall and the other teachers (I wasn't sure of their names yet) did not look nearly as pleased. Some were going rather red in the face.

"Enough!" Professor Dumbledore called out across the hall, laughing. The food all froze in mid-air, then clattered to the ground. "Tergeo! All right, while that was a good bit of fun, now I believe it is time for a brief desert, then off to bed. Although I normally make announcements after the meal is complete, as I have your attention now…"

The spell that Dumbledore called out seemed to tidy the hall in a moment. All the food that had been stuck to the walls, and to the students, had been wiped away. The many of us who had taken refuge under the long tables climbed out from underneath, hesitantly though, afraid that more food was going to come flying towards us at any moment.

"The forbidden forest is of course, off limits. We have a new addition to the grounds this year, a rare tree, called a Whomping Willow. To attempt to get near the tree would be dangerous for any student, so I advise that you avoid doing so. If you are looking for a nice tree to sit under, I believe there are a few nice oaks near to the lake. If you have any interest in whomping willow trees, our Herbology teacher, Professor Stumpet, would be happy to answer them during your regular classes. Now enjoy your desert, and I bid you pleasant evening. Welcome to the new school year."

The rest of dinner was rather uneventful after that. Shortly we first years were following a prefect up to the dormitories. I was currently ignoring James and Sirius, who had both managed to not get in trouble for the food fight, although they tried to speak to me. Finally I gave in, and started to speak to them again, though grudgingly.

Later that evening after the sorting I was sitting in the common room reading. Since the term always started on September first, no matter what day of the week, we had no classes tomorrow, as it was Sunday. That being said, I was taking full advantage of the warm room, with its comfy red chairs, for as long as I pleased.

A ruckus that I was beginning to associate with James and Sirius took me away from my book. I glanced at the portrait hole to see what they could be up to, but they were already up and walking towards me. I looked back down to the story, but by the time I found my place, the boy's were in front of me. Since they had been causing such a scene entering the room, nearly all eyes were on us, sadly. I didn't need to be the focus of attention as a first year.

"Hey, Nicole. What was the phrase you said you knew in Slovak earlier? You were walking away down the train, so I didn't catch it." Sirius asked a gleam in his eye that I had yet to recognize.

"I don't see why you two have this strange obsession with this little bit I know. I bet if you searched the school, you could find someone who speaks the language fluently." I looked back at the book longingly for a moment, but then directed my attention back to the boys. "Daj mi pusu."

Suddenly Sirius leaned towards me and kissed me full on the lips. It took me a second to register what he had just done, but once it clicked I pulled away quickly.

"I'll kill you!" I yelled, as if we hadn't already had the attention of the room. Lily, who had been sitting on the next chair over, ignoring the shenanigans, had apparently looked up amid the kiss. The look on my face must have been enough to send James and Sirius running. The whipped back to the portrait hole, and I was hot on their tail. Once we were outside, I saw that Remus had been waiting for them.

"I told you not to do it!" Remus scolded the black haired boys as they ran. I stopped chasing them once we got to the landing of the staircase.

"You are a dead man Sirius. Those words won't be for you again!" I screeched, but at that point, the whole escapade had become almost comical. It was my own fault to tell the truth, so I started giggling. I turned back towards the common room, hoping to actually get back to my book now. Once I sat down through, Lily practically jumped on me.

"What in god's good name was that?"

"Sirius being a git." I replied, sighing unhappily. I'd never get back to my book. "He asked me to say something specific in Slovak, and he had already figured out what it meant. So he did what I said."

"What did you say to him?" The redhead next to me demanded.

"Daj mi pusu. It means 'give me a kiss'. My uncle taught it to me when I was a baby. It's the only substantial sentence I know. I didn't think Sirius would do that though. I guess I should have known, judging by the way he acted at the feast." I shrugged, finally deciding that bed was a good idea. Lily looked more furious than anything else.

"You are going to let him get away with it?" She questioned me. I nodded.

"Nothing to be done about it. Coming to bed?" She sighed, and picked up her things, following me up to bed. If this day was a picture of what the rest of my time at this school would be like, I was going to have a very interesting seven years.

**AN: Hey all! Welcome back, you should be rather happy, it's a fast update, which is a blessing in and of itself. Umm Not much to say about this chapter. If you have any questions ask in a review or PM. Oh, I wanted to say, when I wrote out how to pronounce those slovack words earlier, that may not be the only way to say them. I'm kindof weak with my slovak, but the way I wrote them out is the way I was taught to say them.**

**Love 3**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Enjoy, oh and I sadly do not own HP**

The next day nearly all the Gryffindors slept late. Myself included, yet I was still not the last one up in my dorm. It was nearly nine when I finally pulled myself out of bed and bothered to get dressed. After I was presentable (in muggle clothes of course, since it was the weekend), I made my way into the common room to see who else was about. There was a figure lying on a couch in the common room, reading a book. I walked towards it to see if it was someone I knew.

"Morning Sirius." I chirped once he was in my view, leaning over the back of the couch. He closed his book and tossed it on to the chair next to us. "How'd ya sleep?"

"Well, and yourself? Have any dreams of my sweet kisses?" I moved around to the front of the couch and punched him in the stomach.

"Scoot over, jerk." I said in a joking way, not responding to his teasing. He moved his feet closer to him and sat up, allowing me room to sit on the sofa. "I didn't take you for one to be awake 'early' on a Sunday."

"Well it's really not that early, but I'm a notoriously early riser on Sunday's, and only Sundays. The quite is nice once in awhile, you know? Today though, I only was up a few minutes before you came down." I smiled at what he said, it was the same thing that I happened to do. Then his stomach growled. "You plan on heading down to breakfast?"

"Sure, think we can find our way down to the great hall?" I questioned as I stood up. Sirius put out a hand for me to pull him up, which I did. He shrugged and we moved towards the portrait hole. We were nearly there when a door banged open behind us. We both turned around to Remus at the top of the stairs. It was quite a sight actually.

He was standing there with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, and his shirt (from his uniform) was partially untucked. You could see he hadn't combed his hair, and his robes and bag were thrown over his arm. He seemed to be muttering something, although I couldn't hear it from where we were standing. Sirius and I stared for a few moments before we started laughing. Apparently we were loud enough to draw his attention.

"Why aren't you in class? Or dressed?" He asked while running down the stairs. Sirius and I tried to gain our composure long enough to answer his question. I managed it before Sirius did though.

"It's Sunday!" Then I broke down into giggles again at Remus' face. He turned away and went back up the stairs to the dormitory, muttering all the way. Once he was gone Sirius and I turned back to the portrait hole, and exited the common room. "You guys are going to be quite a handful this year aren't you?"

"More than you could ever imagine." Sirius smirked. We walked for a while quietly, trying to find our way back to the large room we had been in last night. After a bit he piped up again. "I think we may be lost."

I couldn't really argue with that statement. We had been wandering down corridors and staircases for quite a while. I told him to wait for a moment, and I turned to a portrait on the wall.

"Excuse me, sir? Could you point us in the direction of the Great hall?" I asked a man who was sitting in a rocking chair petting a crup.

"Of course young lady. You and your young man will be wanting to head down that staircase right there, and then wait for the big marble one to come to the landing. Once it does, go down it, and you will be in the entrance hall. The Great hall is right off it."

"Thanks for the directions, but he's not 'my young man'." I replied to the portrait. Sirius was leaning on the railing nearby.

"You are mighty welcome dear. You and your young man come by and see Grandpa Charles any time." The portrait winked and then closed his eyes. Soon enough he was snoring. I signaled for Sirius to follow me, since I knew where we were going finally. Once we hit the lower landing, there was no marble staircase, so we had to wait.

"So I'm your young man now?" I rolled my eyes at Sirius's comment. I thought he hadn't been paying attention. A staircase came spinning towards the landing, before I could think up a response. Once we were in the great hall I didn't need to, as Sirius was so busy stuffing his face (I don't see where the boy had room for all the food he ate) he couldn't teas me anymore. I sat and ate my food like a civilized human being, meanwhile Lily, along with Remus, James, and the other boy, Peter, joined us finally.

"You look better than you did earlier Remus." I smirked when he sat down. He glared at me, and I got a questioning look from the others, especially as Sirius started to laugh again, leading to pumpkin juice shooting out his nose. "Apparently Remmy here didn't know what day of the week it was when he got up this morning. So, thinking he was going to be late, he came down the dorm stairs, in a very… discombobulated state."

Our small group laughed and finished breakfast. We spent the rest of the day on the grounds, we ran into the giant man who had brought us across the lake the night before. He introduced himself as Hagrid, keeper of the grounds and keys at Hogwarts. We told him it looked like he had some kind of food in his beard, and he complained about the food fight the night before. James and Sirius didn't look him in the eye for the rest of the conversation.

* * *

><p>The next morning I woke up in plenty of time to get dressed and attend breakfast before class. Lily wasn't around, but Xylina was up and getting ready at the same time as me.<p>

"Morning." I said to her brightly. I got a grumble in response and deduced that she wasn't much of a morning person. Once she had showered see seemed in a much better mood though. We made our way down to the great hall, and found Lily sitting with the two other girls from our dorm. Although Xylina and I sat next to the group, we didn't join in their conversation. The boys all came down in a group, whispering amongst themselves. Since the first night I became very suspicious about that group whispering. Before I had a chance to question them properly, McGonagall came around passing out our class schedules.

"First period History of Magic. Bloody wonderful." I heard James mutter. I frowned as I saw History of Magic as my first class on Monday mornings. We had it again on Thursday afternoons. What brightened my mood was that on Mondays we also had double potions in the afternoon.

"Well we have off after it at least, then potions." I smiled at the thought. Of all the classes I had been looking forward to, potions was by far the front runner. I couldn't wait to start brewing. James and Peter threw me a look, as if questioning why the thought of mixing frog scum and lizard warts excited me. It wasn't the most appealing sounding prospects, but for me, it was the excitement of coming to Hogwarts in the first place. "What?"

They shook their heads and moved their eyes back to our schedules. I had read through the entire thing already, and turned back to my breakfast. The meal was again disrupted by the owl post arriving. Although I saw it yesterday, the post arriving was a special to behold. Hundreds of owls flying into one hall at once was quite impressive.

I turned my attention to a large black owl that had landed on the table in front of me. I pulled a letter off his leg and offered him a piece of fruit from my plate. Apparently he didn't appreciate the cantaloupe, as he few away with a piece of Xylina's bacon in his mouth. I went to rip open my letter, seeing the Ministry seal on it made me sure it was from my parents, but I heard a curse come from the direction of Sirius.

"Bloody hell." He held a bright red letter in his hands, a mix of shock and fear on his face. He jumped up from the table and moved towards the entrance hall quickly. I followed after him, as did James, both of us apparently concerned for his well being. We reached the hall in time to see the letter burst into flames, then start screaming at Sirius.

"…that Gryffindor house with all its mud-bloods and traitors. How dare you insult the noble name of Black by getting sorted into any house other than Slytherin? You are a disgrace to the family name. Your father is furious; he can't even go near his family's home without being mocked by his brother. I'll be writing to that foolish headmaster immediately to see what we can do about this mistake!"

The red envelope then crumbled into ashes. I moved towards Sirius again, touching him on the shoulder, with that he finally turned to look at us.

"Bloody hell." He repeated, shaking his head. "Knew she'd be pissed, but not that angry."

"Who the hell was that?" James questioned.

"My mother. She's a bat, and not worth the time. Come on, let finish breakfast." He sauntered off back towards the great hall. James and I shared a look, but said nothing, and followed Sirius.

History of Magic, supposedly the easiest class to fall asleep in. Not when there were a couple of young wizards throwing parchment bits at me the entire lesson. As often as I turned around to glare at them, and they snickered loudly, we never got in trouble. Binns must have been deaf as a human, and it carried on to his afterlife because he never even threw a second glance towards us. The hour passed rather quickly because of James and Sirius, and soon enough we were walking out of the classroom with, thank god, no homework.

Before we knew it we were in the classroom for potions. I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat between Sirius and Xylina. The three of us were talking about the plans the boys and I had to explore the castle after lessons. I was currently trying to convince her to come along with us, although she didn't seem very interested.

I heard a door close behind us and looked to see Slughorn, the potions professor, walk into the room. I waited patiently for him to get to the front of the class and start speaking to us. Sirius tried to talk to me, but I shushed him very quickly. He didn't interrupt me again that lesson.

"Afternoon class. Welcome to Hogwarts and your first potions lesson of the year. I know that it isn't a class of wand waving, or other such things, but brewing potions is an art unto itself. Now first things first. Attendance." He started calling out names, once in a while stopping to ask a question about a student's family. "Nicole Tallo. Any relation to Patricia Tallo?"

"Yes, I'm her daughter." I responded happily.

"Hmm, good. Come from a long line of Irish witches and wizards, the Quinn's. A fair few were potion masters in their day."

He left it at that and moved on down the list. Unlike history of magic, potions was a practical subject. Our first lesson had us brewing a boil curing potion in our groups. Our potion turned out perfectly, much to my pleasure and surprise. The three of us earned 20 points for Gryffindor by the time the double period was out.

**AN: Aren't you all special? Another update, although it's a short one. I'm avoiding working on my book, sooooo. This is what it comes down to. Haha, I noticed I haven't put a disclaimer up. I'd better do that shouldn't I? Well if you have any questions feel free to ask.**

**Love 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Enjoy**

**James**

_Nicole_

Sirius

Time went slipping by. Before we knew it, our first year of classes was halfway done and we were preparing to leave for Christmas holidays. Lily and Xylina had become my confidants and best friends. Whenever I wasn't with the boys I was with them. It was with the boys that I was found most often though. Where the girls were my best friends, James, Remus, Sirius, and even little Peter, had become my brothers. We had spent a considerable portion of the year thus far figuring out what occupied each floor of the immense castle. Our current conquest was to befriend Peeves, the castle poltergeist, as fellow pranksters (yes, I had, in fact, been roped up into it) we thought it was our duty. It was the last day before holidays, and classes had ended; James and I were searching the third floor of the castle, while Remus, Sirius, and Peter were above us, looking on the 4th. Peeves was nowhere to be found. Eventually we met up and said that we would continue the mission after break.

At dinner we discussed, not for the first time, our plans for Christmas break. Every first year Gryffindor was going home, including myself. I was traveling back to America the next day. Mom had arranged for me to travel via floo across the ocean, instead of flying for hours. Everybody else was heading to their respective parts of the country. Even Sirius, who had still not made nice with his family after getting sorted into Gryffindor (Headmaster Dumbledore had assured Mrs. Black there was no way there had been a mistake), was still going home, not that he was happy about it.

Up in the dorm after dinner Lily and I watched at Xylina ran around the room in a tizzy trying to find everything she needed for Holidays. I laughed as she tried to pack Biely, who hissed and jumped out of her luggage, stalking back over to me. Biely had grown over the past months, and was now nearly a cat. I patted him on the head and he fell asleep on my trunk at the end of my bed. Lily and I giggled as we watched her run around the room like crazy.

"Don't you have to pack too Nicole?" Lily asked "Or will we be laughing at you tomorrow morning before we go down to the trains?"

"I packed yesterday Lils. Remember, Sirius and I had gone to breakfast early, like every Sunday. When I got back, you lot were gone, so I waited for you, and packed in the meanwhile." I leaned back, resting my weight on my outstretched arms.

"You two have made quite a habit of that. Why don't you sleep on Sunday's like a normal person?" I shrugged in response. Ever since that first Sunday, Sirius and I had met for breakfast early, when nobody else was awake. It was peaceful, and gave us a chance to sit in silence, or quiet companionship. Lily started teasing me then, "You don't _like_ him do you?"

"Only as much as you _like_ James." I retorted, she screwed up her face in disgust. After a few more minutes of watching Xylina bustle about I finally interrupted. "Come on you two. It's nearly eight-thirty. Time for presents!"

I grabbed their hands and pulled them downstairs. We all had agreed to meet and exchange presents in the common room today, since we wouldn't all be together over break. The boys had already claimed the section of chairs nearest to the fire, much to the displeasure of a group of 7th years. They kept throwing glares our way all through the night.

The present exchange was loads of fun; everyone received muggle things from me. I gave earrings to Xylina and Lily. Both were stained silver, but Lily's were frogs on lily pads (She didn't find it as funny as I did, but she liked them anyway) and Xylina's were tiny bird cages with owls in them. They _were_ muggle jewelry, so there was no major magic to them, but I had placed a never tarnish charm on them (I had asked Professor Flitwick for help). I had given Remus a book.

"It's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's just been made it to a new movie. I've read the book, and I think it's fantastic." I said once he opened it.

"I like Ronald Dahl. Thank you Nicole." He smiled at me. We were about to move on when James piped up.

"What's a movie?" He questioned innocently. Lily and I looked at one another rather confused, who didn't know what a movie is? Seeing our questioning faces he added to his question, "I'm assuming it's something muggle. I'm from a family of wizards remember?"

"True. But you would think you would still go see a movie. Well think of it this way. It's like wizard pictures, but longer, and with bright colors and sound." I explained. He nodded and we moved on with the rest of the gifts. I gave Sirius and James sets of toy cars. I had found a spell that would let them drive around on their own. I had figured it would amuse them both for a bit (as it did, until they crashed into each other later that night, they stopped working after that). I received nice things in return from my friends. I got a necklace from Lily. The necklace was made from wood and had my name burned into the back of it. It was shaped like a puzzle piece, and fit into Lily's, which fit into the matching one she gave to Xylina. I loved it. I received books from both Xylina and Remus, which were both absolutely wonderful. Remus gave me a children's book by Dr. Seuss, it was new, called The Lorax. Xylina gave me a book on potions.

Sirius and James chipped in together and had bought me a special notebook. They told me that they each had another like it, and all I had to do was write their names on top of a page and whatever I wrote underneath it would appear in their notebooks. Once I wrote 'managed' alone at the bottom of the page, the conversation would disappear. Otherwise it could be used as a normal notebook. It was the premier way to pass notes.

"It's wonderful. Thanks bunches." I hugged them both.

"It'll work no matter where we are. So that means that we can still talk when you're in America over breaks and such. We won't have to wait for owls." I smiled when James explained this to me. That was one major problem with my living in the United States. Mail would have to be sent to the ministry, be checked, be sent across the seas to the D.O.M.B., checked once more, and then finally sent out to places all over the country. My mother simply dealt with the mail when she flooed to the ministry once a week, but things from my friends would have taken weeks. Letters from my friends would have taken weeks. At least this way I could communicate with James and Sirius this way.

We all stayed up talking late into the night, like many other students. Finally we said our goodnights, and went up to the dorms for our last night in the castle of 1971. Once I got up into the dorm, right away I found a quill and took out the notebook. I wrote;

Sirius & James

_Good night boys!_

**Good night Nicole!**

Night!

_Just checking to see it worked :)_

**Knew you would.**

_See you tomorrow._

Alright. Sleep tight; don't let the doxy's bite!

I shut the notebook and placed it on my trunk, right on top of Biely's carrier, next to my small bag of things I was bringing home.

The next morning Lily and I finally stopped laughing at Xylina and helped her pack.

"It's about time you two help me. You just were sitting there yesterday. If you had helped then, we would be done with this already." She scolded.

"If you had packed at a reasonable time, we wouldn't be doing this now either!" Lily chortled back at her. I shook my head at the two of them.

"Xylina, why are you even packing this much? It's only two weeks, and then we'll be back." I questioned, it only suddenly occurred to me that she was picking up everything she had with her and stuffing it in her trunk. Suddenly she stopped moving completely. Lily turned and gave her a questioning look, apparently only realizing it also.

"W-we don't need to take everything?" She stuttered out. I shook my head and made a gesture to the small bag sitting on my trunk. Lily nodded in conformation, pointing at her own bag when Xylina looked at her for confirmation. A frown formed on Xylina's face, her features wrinkling as she pouted. "I didn't know! And I don't have a small bag."

"Well you do now. So grab what you need so we can eat something before we go." I ruffled her curly black hair. I walked over to my trunk and pulled out an extra bag. "Mom sent me with an extra. She's a _very_ prepared lady."

In the end, we never got breakfast; we helped Xylina put all her things away, since she had cleared out nearly all her drawers. By the time we were done, we had to make our way down to the train. There was snow falling when we climbed into the horseless carriages for the first time. It was the three of us in the carriage, along with Severus (who I found alright, though I spent very little time with him), as he and Lily were still very close.

"Are you doing anything fun over the break Sev?" Lily asked him curiously. We had been talking, and I noticed he wasn't joining in. Apparently Lily noticed the same thing.

"Avoiding my father, spending time with my mum." He said, and then dropped off into silence again. I shrugged, but Lily looked worried.

"What's wrong Sev?" She questioned persistently. "Don't lie to me, please."

He said nothing, and the entire carriage dropped into silence. Once we reached the train we parted ways. Lily wanted to sit with Severus, and find out what was wrong, so we said our goodbye's at Hogsmead station.

"I'll see you after break, alright? I'll see if I can get mom to take letters for us, so we can actually talk before we see each other again. If not, it's only two weeks." I hugged Lily and waved to Severus. I was saying my Goodbye's to Xylina as well, since she wanted to sit with her older sister.

"Two weeks is forever!" She complained as she waved to the two retreating figures before turning and hugging me.

"You could come sit with us you know." I replied to her objections, "The boys couldn't care less."

She sighed and her eyes said she wanted too. "No, I should sit with Naiya. I thought I would see her more since we were in school together now, but different houses, different years, different schedules, and such." We hugged and then she disappeared to find her Slytherin sister. I grabbed Biely's carrier again from where I had placed it next to me and climbed on to the train. The boy's were nowhere to be found, but suddenly I felt warmth emitting from my bag. I opened it up, to make sure nothing had caught on fire (a precaution I had long since learned from my days of accidental magic), and saw nothing other than my notebook. I pulled it out curiously and flipped it open. I saw Sirius had written that they had a compartment in the last carriage on the train. I smiled as I realized another practical application of the notebooks and placed it back in my bag.

"Hello boys. Looks like it's just us, Xylina and Lily said to tell you have a good holiday. They went off to sit elsewhere." I placed my things in the compartment once I found them. After placing the cat carrier on the shelf I reached into it and pulled Biely out of it, instead opting to hold her.

"That's alright, though I brought a muffin for them as well. We noticed you weren't at breakfast." Remus said, "Or rather, Peter noticed. I was a tad occupied stopping these two from setting off a dung bomb under the table. Why I gave those to them I'm still not sure."

Remus had gestured to the two sitting near to the window. I took the muffin and thanked Peter for noticing my absence. He blushed at the thanks, and stuttered out a 'welcome'. Peter was a more awkward member of the group. I think it was only because he was in the dorm with them that James and Sirius (who were rather stuck up gits sometimes) bothered to include him. Remus, I knew was much nicer, and always tried to include Peter.

"Slimy kid. It's no wonder he was sorted into Slytherin." A whisper came from near to Sirius and James. I grew curious as to who they were talking about.

"Remus?" I threw a questioning look at the blondish boy. He shook his head, which lead me to believe the two boys would have done something neither of us approved of.

"Who did you hex?" I asked them, in a tone that instantly stopped their conversation. They didn't dare to look at me. I tolerated, and even joined in their good natured pranks, but James and Sirius had a notorious tendency to be bullies. I _did not_ approve of bullying, and they knew it. When I received no answer, suddenly the thought filled my head. Severus. He appeared rather upset in the carriage, and they were talking about a Slytherin. "Severus?"

I got a feeble nod in response. Fire grew in my eyes. Severus was one of their favorite victims. I personally thought it was unacceptable to bully anybody, as did Remus, although James and Sirius had roped Peter into joining them. He didn't look guilty this time though, so I knew he was not a part of it.

"How many times… You two need to grow up! I'm friends with bullies. My best friends are bullies. That is an unacceptable statement. I'm all in support of a laugh, but singling out a student and picking on them is not okay. I've half a mind to tell a teacher on the two of you. You know how much trouble you'd get in? Let alone the damage you can cause to someone that way?" I ranted. They knew I was upset, and they looked miserable. Served them right.

I turned away from the two of them, resolved to punish, them for a little while at least, by ignoring them completely. It was a solution that could only last for a little while though. After they apologized to me for the eighth time I finally turned to them.

"Stop. It may be me you offended, but it's Severus you hurt. What you'll do now, right now, is you will write an anonymous Christmas card to the boy, the both of you. And you will tell him wonderful things about himself. He won't take anything you two say seriously, so don't sign you names. If nothing else, it will make him feel a little better about himself, and make me feel better about you two." I said to them disgusted. I pulled a Christmas card out of my bag (I'd been writing them for my muggle friends earlier), and tossed it at the two of them. "Get it to Lily, and she'll get it to Severus. Alright?"

The nodded and did as I said. I figured that if nothing else it was to get back in my good graces. Once they were done, I put the incident behind us, and we had a wonderful trip home. Once we were at King's Cross we stayed in a group until we found everybody's parents. Soon it was only Sirius and I left. I was to walk from the station to the Ministry of Magic, then to my mother's office. I'd made the journey often enough, coming from platform 7 (where the train from my Grandparent's came in) rather than 9 and ¾ though.

There were only a few stragglers left in the station besides the two of us. I saw a boy in a Hufflepuff scarf dash back through the passage and onto the train, looking as though he had forgotten something.

"Sirius, where are your parents?" I questioned, concerned that he was still here.

"Don't know. Might not of come, they're still rather fed up with me far as I can tell. Where're yours?" I told him that I had to walk to the ministry to meet my Mother, as she was finishing up in England for the week. "Come on then. I live in London, not too far from the ministry. We'll go together."

I nodded and grabbed my things, following him out to the muggle world.

**AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have to say, I miss being able to use other fonts. I can do the portions where they are writing in the notebook so much more elegantly, when I can change the font. If you are one of those people who like to know how I picture their handwriting I use Lucida Handwriting for Nicole (although I really imagine her having _my_ handwriting as she is based of me), Kristen ITC for James, and Bradley Hand ITC for Sirius. Review if you like.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Enjoy!**

**James**

_Nicole_

Sirius

As much as I missed all my friends in school being home for winter break was absolutely wonderful. I don't know if there is anything that can match being home at Christmas. And I loved Christmas in the United States. After being surrounded by people who speak in British accents for so long, it was a treat for my ears to only hear normal speech (except for Mom of course, who has an odd cross between an Irish, British, and American accent). I never thought I could miss the people of New Jersey so much. But the people I missed more than anybody else were, of course, my parents.

"You got here alright?" Mom worried after we exchanged greetings and hugs. "Didn't run into any trouble I hope."

"No, I'm fine. Walked most of the way with a friend anyway, he lives near the public entrance." I informed her to stop her worrying.

"That was sweet of them; I bet his parents didn't want you to walk all by yourself. Who's your friend? I want to hear all about everything. Your hair's grown, you don't have bangs anymore. " She questioned as she picked up her books and pens (yes, _she_ got to write with pen. I swear to god I'm smuggling those back with me.) so that we could go home. I pulled at the shorter hair that framed my face, she wasn't there to cut it anymore, so I'd let them grow out.

"His parents didn't do anything. They didn't even come to pick him up!" I raged. I still couldn't believe that someone would do that to their child.

"What? Who is he?" Mom asked, concerned.

"Sirius Black. He said his parent's were probably still mad at him, I think because he was sorted into Gryffindor, like me. He got a red letter that exploded at the beginning of the year."

"A howler, that red envelope, it's called a howler." Mom informed me, "A Black in Gryffindor. That's a shock. I hope he got home safely, we should send an owl to check."

"We don't need too. Hold on." I shuffled through my bag, finally digging out my notebook. It must have slid down to the bottom on the train ride. I grabbed a pen (happily) and scratched out a message to Sirius. He responded quickly;

_Sirius_

_Hey, did you get home alright?_

Yup. I'm fine, Mum and Dad are right fuming at me _still_ mind you, but fine all the same.

_Alright. Have a good break! I'll talk to you later._

You too.

"He's home." I piped shutting the notebook and shoving it back in my now rather rumpled bag of clothes.

"Now where, my little witch, did you get that?" She shook her head at me.

"James, Sirius, and I all have one. They bought me mine as a Christmas present. My friends all gave me really nice things. I hope they like what I got them as much."

"I'm sure they do. Now let's go home. I'm sure your father is waiting by the door for you to come home." She smiled and I returned the grin. It was fantastic to see my parents again after so long. I'd spent a week or so away from them every summer for years, but spending months apart was something entirely new. We walked to the end of the hallway where there was a private floo for members of the International Department. The floo was magic-ed so that the traveler only had to say the name of the country they were going to, since department names were terribly long. I stepped in first and said United States of America, throwing down my powder. In a flash I appeared in an identical fireplace in a newer looking building. The USA DOMB and the English Ministry were as opposite as could be. The USA offices were styled with modern furniture, and an open floor plan divided by low, moveable walls, while the Ministry was old historical offices.

I stepped to the side and looked at the office which I had grown up knowing. Although my mother split her time between the Ministry and DOMB, I rarely flooed to England (Wasn't strictly allowed to do it often). Before I had time to take much in Mom was stepping out beside me. A few hello's and questions about my schooling rang out from my mother's co-workers who knew me. I waved and responded happily, but eager to get home. I practically ran to the elevator, and was beyond happy when we reached the parking lot.

"Mom, why don't you just apparate or floo to work?" I questioned. My mother had always driven to her job as far as I could remember, even though it was nearly an hour away.

"Not everybody on our street is magic. So we keep up the charade, and your father can't apparate or floo, so he needed to drive. He taught me, and I enjoy it." She shrugged, pressing down on the gas. It was still early enough in the afternoon that there wasn't any traffic on the turnpike. We got home quickly enough, and before I knew it I was telling my parents all about my friends, while Biely was roaming the house, exploring her actual home.

"Well there's James Potter, he's the boy who walked into Olivander's after us. And Sirius Black, he's the boy who I was telling you about earlier." I started, rambling off names.

"They're both in your house?" Dad questioned, I nodded in response.

"Both are from old families. I knew James's parents, they were in my year, but Gryffindor, good people though, and I'm actually still in touch with them. The Black name is older than the Potter's. They've been around nearly as long as the Quinn's; they've always been in Slytherin though." Mom threw in a bit about bloodlines here or there.

"James said his parent's knew Gram." I mentioned in passing, "I'm also friends with Lily Evans, she's a muggle born. And Xylina Vasil, she was born in Greece, but moved to England when she was 3. She's funny. Then there's Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew."

"Sounds like you're friends with most of your year." Dad said, and then Mom added on,

"The Gryffindors at least."

"Well there are two other girls in our dorm. Marline and Hanna, they're nice enough, but I don't spend much time with them." I made a face thinking of the other girls. They liked to go off and hang out by themselves. My mom and dad asked questions about Hogwarts all through break and soon enough it past Christmas, and time to go back to the UK. I'd been talking with James and Sirius often (we didn't let a silly thing like a five hour time difference stop us). Sirius seemed to be going mad, his parents were dragging him across London from one party to the next (apparently being a Gryffindor didn't stop him from still being the 'perfect Black heir'). James on the other hand seemed jubilant. He kept telling us that he got the most amazing thing for Christmas, but said he would show us when we got back to school. He was driving me insane the way he kept going on about something he wouldn't tell us.

Mum and I headed back to England the way we came on Friday evening, after saying goodbye to Dad. The Hogwarts express wasn't set to leave until Sunday morning, but we were going to visit with Gram first. Although I always enjoyed visiting, I was more excited to get back to my friends and school.

Once we arrived at Gram's I ran into the living room to see her. I always loved her house, it was small, but the grounds were enormous. Her living room was beautiful, I'd helped her paint it a few years back. We made three walls off white, a creamy color, but the last wall was a pale forest green. I saw Gram sitting in her chair right away, but then I noticed that she had company.

There was a couple sitting on the sofa; they looked about my parent's age. The woman had wavy brown hair, a chocolate color, only a little lighter than my own, grown out to just above her shoulders. The man sitting next to her had his arm swung around her shoulders, resting on the back of the sofa. He had rather unruly black hair, which seemed oddly familiar to me. At that moment Mom came walking in behind me, and I stopped staring at the guests.

"Hi Gram! Hello." I addressed my grandmother first, and then waved to the guests. I walked over to Gram and she stood up to give me a hug. My mother followed and hugged her mother, the turned and addressed the couple who had also stood up.

"Hello Molly, Harold. How've you been? It's been years hasn't it?" Mom shook their hands. I stood next to Gram, speaking about school in whispers while they conversed.

"It's been too long. How's Greg? I imagine you traveled by floo, so he couldn't come could he?" The man, Harold, asked. She nodded. "Is this Nicole? We have heard quite a bit about her."

Hearing my name I looked up, then made my way over to where my mother sat, talking. I quietly wondered where they could have heard about me.

"Harold, Molly, this is Nicole. Nicole these people are Mr. and Mrs. Potter. I believe you know their son, James." She smiled. I smiled too when I realized who I was looking at. These were James's parents.

"Nice to meet you." I piped happily. Even though I wouldn't get to see James and the others until Sunday, I was happy to meet his family. He'd told me a bunch about them before.

"And the same to you. James has said good things about you; I hope he hasn't gotten you into too much trouble. He's actually out in the back on his broom somewhere. We heard you were going to be here, so we suggested he come along." My face lit up even more as I heard what Mrs. Potter said. I looked at Gram and Mom to make sure that I could leave. They both laughed and waved me off, with that I set off for the back field.

It took me only seconds to spot James up in the sky. I called out to him, and waved, but he was high enough up that he couldn't hear me. I ran to the garden shed, and pulled out my cleansweep. It wasn't the best broom out there, but I'd had it for years, given to me secondhand from my uncle, and it worked just as good as the day I got it. Mom wouldn't let me ride at home (We have too many muggles in our town), so I only got to practice while I was here though.

Soon enough I was flying up to meet James. Once I got close enough I could see that he was throwing a ball up and down. He saw me and jumped, nearly falling off his broom, then waved me over.

"You lead me to believe you were a better flyer than that. I thought you could at least stay on your broomstick." I teased him in greeting. He pegged the ball at me in return, and as it neared me, I caught it.

"Chaser?" He questioned. I shrugged.

"Sometimes. Whatever position really, but not seeker." I shuddered at the thought, "How was your break?"

"It was pretty good. I'll show you what I got tonight. We're staying the night if you didn't know. Mum and Dad were planning to come and see your Grandmother, and when she heard we were friends she asked us if we wanted to stay here. What's wrong with seeker?" He questioned, looking slightly affronted.

"Completely irritating actually. They control the game, and don't really play as part of the team all the time, know what I mean?" I said casually.

"Hmm. I guess you have a valid point. I'm going out for chaser next year. Join with me?" We'd had this conversation many a time. Frankly, the boy was quid ditch obsessed, and determined to get me to join. I flew around for a bit, contemplating.

"Maybe."

"That's the closest I've gotten to a yes yet. Could it be, Miss Nicole, because you are currently remembering the joy that comes with flying on a broom?" I tried to frown when he said that, but it was completely unsuccessful and a smile broke though. "I'll get you to try out with me yet."

That evening, after dinner and everybody had gone to bed; James contacted me through our notebooks. He told me he was going to come show me his Christmas present in a few minutes, and that when there was a knock on my door to leave it open until there was a knock on my window. I questioned what he was going on about, but got no response. Instead I sat on my bed with a book until he showed up. Once I heard the knock I got up and opened my door.

"God almighty James. You may as well go running down the hallway screaming that pigs are flying you knock so loud." I started whispering. Then as I looked to see where he stood, nobody was there. I gaped for a second and, thinking about his instructions shut the door started to shut the door, just in case any pranks were coming my way (maybe he got some kind of charmed dung bombs for Christmas?). As I was shutting it, I felt a tug of hesitation in the smooth swing of the door. A bang then sounded a foot to my left and James appeared out of nowhere, cursing up a storm. Loudly I might mention. I questioned, shushing him at the same time, "James? Where did you come from?"

"I told you not to shut the door Nicole!" he said rubbing the back of his head. He stood up and gathered what looked like a cloak from the ground, moving out of the way as I firmly shut the door. Before I did though, I stuck my head out to see if we'd woken anybody up.

"We're good. Nobodies coming to get us. Yet. Now where did you come from?" I questioned him again. We sat across from one another on the big queen sized mattress in the room, myself at the headboard, and him at the bottom.

"That's what I was going to show you. I was under my Christmas present. It's bloody amazing, I got an invisibility cloak!" He told me. My eyes widened. "A real good one too. Mum doesn't know about it, but Dad had it in school, was given to him by his dad, and my great grandmum gave it to my grandfather. It's been passed down for years! Dad gave it to me Christmas night, after mum was sleeping."

"Sweet. Between this and the Journals, we're going to be set for next term." I smiled at the thought of all the things that we could pull.

"And you say _we_ are the bad ones?" James questions, laughing at the slightly evil glint in my eyes.

"Well, I used to be the good one. And besides, at least _I_ don't get caught!"

**AN: Sup. I know I know, I disapear for a few weeks after some really quick and consistant updates and all I have to say is 'sup'. You must be thinking that I'm unrealiable, well you sure got that right (About updating my stories that is. I'm really a VERY reliable person.) so that is your preview of what life is going to be like if you care to read this fic. So that's that. Umm what else. Not much. Review if you care to, but it's not nessicary. Yeah. well that's all folks and such things.**

**Love **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Enjoy!**

"I thought you'd want to sit with your sister on the ride home too?" I questioned Xylina on the train ride back to Hogwarts after the holidays. The boys and I were sitting in the same compartment that we'd ridden in on the way home before Christmas, when Xylina came in and joined us before the train even left the station. She vehemently shook her head when the question was posed, hard enough that it jostled both Remus and Peter, who were sitting on either side of her. I was currently squashed between James and Sirius, who were both trying to stretch out a tad more than was physically possible.

"Nuh-uh. She's perfectly fine, but her friends! God forbid a Gryffindor first year sit with the high and mighty Slytherin third years." She rolled her eyes, but smiled "No, I'd much rather sit with you lot than deal with them. Idiots that you are."

I stuck my tong out at her, but couldn't really argue with that statement. We turned to talk of holidays then. James and I shared our story about how we got to spend the last weekend of break together, and had plans to spend a good bit of summer break at my grandmothers and his house.

"Of course you're all welcome to come and spend time too." James added on, I nodded in agreement. Gram was always willing to let me have my friends over.

"I'd be glad to get away from my family at this point. Maybe they'll have cooled down by summer, but I've never seen my parents so mad at me." Sirius looked a tad dejected, but perked back up quickly. "Anyway, Remus, what'd you get up to over hols?"

As much as I wanted to know what happened at Sirius's house over break, I figured it would have to wait until later. I was even more suspicious because whenever I tried to get anymore detail of what was happening with him and his family, he changed the subject when we were writing to one another. I knew he was still going to his family's social events, but that was all I could get out of him. James received the same behavior.

The train ride was, for the first time, uneventful. We sat and chatted and planned a few pranks. I did notice that Remus was rather pale and looked almost upset. I hopped his Mom wasn't ill again. Remus kept having to leave the school to see her she was so sick.

That evening, after girl's time at dinner, I sat with the boys around the fire. We were enjoying our last moments of freedom before the work load started up again the next day. James and I glanced at each other, silently communicating that we needed to talk with Sirius now.

"Sirius. You never really told us much about your break how was it?" James breached the topic carefully, just continuing our conversation from earlier. Sirius shrugged.

"Fine I guess. Dragged from party to party." As I watched him carefully I saw a wall go up in his eyes. Wondering if any of the others had seen it I glanced around. Remus still wasn't paying much attention, but James saw it, and so did Peter. Peter tapped Remus on the shoulder, bringing him out of the book and into the conversation.

"Sirius. Really now, tell us the truth bud." I looked at him intensely, and when he hesitated I repeated, "The truth."

"It's nothing. My parents are simply livid. They say I'm a disgrace, and want next to nothing to do with me. Of course it's still a show for everybody outside the house, I'm still the perfect heir, and they are still proud of me, despite the slight disappointment that I wasn't in Slytherin. Reguls is the only one who's not mad at me, and that's simply because Mum and Dad refuse to bring him into the problems that his 'dirty, Gryffindor' brother caused." He shook his head, like he couldn't believe the ridiculousness of it, but could I see beyond that. His parent's rejection had hurt him, and shaken him to his core. Remus moved a bit and patted him on the shoulder, and suddenly the moment was over. Sirius sprung back.

"So I was stuck in a suit for most of vacation, tagging along at my parents sides. You all sound like you had more fun." I shook my head and smiled.

"Alright boys. It's time to hit the hay. See you tomorrow morning." I stood up and started to walk towards the stairs. Behind me I heard Peter question _Why is she hitting cow food?_. I laughed to myself as I heard Remus sigh and start to explain the muggle saying, an American one at that.

* * *

><p>The week seemed to be flying by, and before we knew it, it was time for our double Defense against the Dark Arts lesson with this year's professor Oakrige. Prof. Oakrige was a strange fellow (by my standards); he seemed to be more interested in dangerous creatures than anything else. We'd already had to deal with Grindylows and Pixies in our first few weeks, then moved up to creatures like Boggarts just before Christmas. I had been utterly curious to find out what we could possibly be studying now.<p>

As we walked into the classroom I was in intense conversation with Lily about how schedule is pronounced, with the boys walking right in front of us.

"It's most definitely shed-yule." She protested yet again. I shook my head sadly at her; the girl had no concept of how to speak properly.

"No. It's not. The word is pronounced sked-du-al. Where is the word S-H sound in that wor-" I stopped my argument short as I crashed right into the back of Remus. He had stopped walking in the middle of the pathway between our desks. Lily had moved to our table already (this was one class where I managed to get away from the boys), but I moved to the front of Remus who was still frozen stiff in place. "Earth to Remus. You in there Lupin?"

I looked at him closer, and noticed he had paled. Actually to be quite frank about it, he looked like he was going to get sick all over my shoes. Just in case I slid around to his side, and followed his gaze. The only thing I could figure he was looking at was the board, on which a series of words was written.

_Vampires_

_Dragons_

_Werewolves_

_Nundus_

Suddenly Remus sprang to life. He made me practically jump out of my skin; it was like a statue coming to life next to me.

"Yes, I'm fine Nicole." I gave him a look, but left the subject be. It wasn't my job to pry, yet. I moved and sat next to Lily. James and Sirius who sat in front of us turned back to speak to me.

"What's up with Remmy?" They questioned together. It was creepy as anything when they did that.

"Not sure." I whispered back, stealing a glance across the room to Remus sitting next to Peter, as Oakrige walked in the room. Once he reached the board he glanced at what he had written, as if he had forgotten it was even there.

"Well, I hope none of you got your hopes up. These topics are actually one's being covered by my 3rd year students." A few faces fell around the room when this was said, "But I'll tell you what. Choose one topic, and we'll do a brief overview of it for the next periods. My Christmas present to you all."

My eyes lit up at the prospect of delving into advanced studies. I also saw James and Sirius perk up at the idea too. Whispering started up amongst the class as students conversed about which topic they most wanted to learn about.

"Alright then, let's vote. Which topic do you all want to learn about most? Nundus? Vampires or Werewolves? Or the dangerous fire breathing dragons?" Prof. Oakrige said each one again slower, tallying up all the votes. In the end, the score was tied between Nundus and Werewolves, and I personally was pulling for the Werewolf. Another vote later (after eliminating the choices of Vampires and Dragons), and the chosen topic was Werewolves. I was pleased, although my initial choice of dragon wasn't the winner.

"Alright then. Let's get started. This is just an introduction, so no need to take notes." Oakrige turned to the board and erased the words. Then he moved to his chair behind the desk and sat down, making the lesson seem even more casual than normal. I glanced around to see every student in the room on the edge of their seats, even Remus, who again, looked sick. I wondered to myself if someone should take him to the hospital wing.

"Werewolves. An ethical dilemma for the ministry. Full moons, they're a danger, the rest of the lunar cycle, not harmful unless they are simply a malicious human being. Simply put, they are humans that turn into a rabid wolf about once a month."

Professor Oakrige went on to explain the finer details of Lycanthropy. For the next two periods we went over the basic signs of the disease, as I came to the conclusion that it _was_ an infection of some sort. We also got to go a little into detail about the issues that werewolves have in the world, getting jobs, education, and being socially accepted. They had no real standing in the ministry.

As the class finished up and we filed out of the room, Remus was still rather pale. I asked once again if he was alright, and he nodded, but rushed off. I shrugged and looked around me for Lily. She was nowhere to be found, but Xylina was coming out of the classroom with Marline and Hanna. She waved goodbye to them as they headed down the corridor the other way.

"Common room?" I questioned as she approached me.

"Yeah, Marline and Hanna are going to the library to finish the potions essay." She said. I was on good terms with the other two Gryffindors but we didn't spend much time together, Xylina sat next to Marline in DADA though. "Thanks for the help with that one by the way."

I smiled thinking of how I had become the potions resource for all my friends. Whenever we learned something in that class it stuck, and then I learned more about it if I could. It was my best class by far, with DADA and transfiguration coming tied for second. The one class that I couldn't stand was Herbology, but I did alright.

As we climbed through the portrait hole I caught sight of Remus. I looked at Xylina, my eyes saying that I needed to go see him. She waved me off, but first made me promise to finish my story later (it was a good one, about my uncle's dog and fried chicken). I walked over to the area I saw Remus sitting in, and sat down abruptly on the cushy arm of the chair.

"So. What's your issue dude?" I asked as he jumped a mile in the air. He shot me a glare.

"What are you talking about? And since when do you say 'dude'?" I returned his glare in kind. I took a better look at him, now that I was closer to him, and now that we were out of the classroom he looked considerably healthier. Actually he looked an awful lot like when he came home from seeing his mom every few weeks.

"Don't change the subject mister." I smirked; I'd always wanted to say that. "But seriously. Do you have an issue with werewolves or something? That whole lesson had you in a total tizzy. I mean it; you looked like you were going to barf on Oakrige."

When he looked down at the ground I knew I'd hit a nerve of some sort. Was he afraid of werewolves or something? Or some crazy activist who preached for their rights?

"I-I guess I have a little issue with werewolves." He barely whispered the word. _That's it then_ I thought to myself_ he must be terrified of the thought of them._

"Remmy Remmy Remmy. There's no reason to be afraid of werewolves. They're quite nice actually, the one's I've met. I mean I've hear of some crazy ones, like, who's that one you all just put in Azkaban? Feni Grey-something-or-other?" I started off, about to go into a whole lecture on werewolves.

"Fenier Greyback. And you've meet werewolves?" He supplied sounding amazed. "You weren't afraid?"

"Nah. Mom's friend Tom, he works in Charm Removal at the DOMB, and trust me that man wouldn't hurt a fly. We don't have the same crazy regulations as you guys. I mean they all have to take days off with half pay for, I think it's three days? Well for a certain amount of time around the moon. But other than that they're harmless." I smiled as I thought of Tom, the man was as gay as the day was long. He volunteered in a muggle animal shelter and had two dogs and four cats. Harmless. I patted Remus on the head. "So there's no reason for the silly prejudice over here. I swear you Brit's are afraid of every bump in the night sometimes."

Remus was outright gaping at me when I finished my slight rant on the rights of werewolves. I rolled my eyes, and stood up when he didn't move. As I was about to go sit on the couch across from Remus and start my reading on a new spell for charms, he grabbed my wrist.

"Thank you Nicole." He said solemnly. I smiled at him, nodded then went to do my reading.

* * *

><p>The next morning at breakfast I found myself laughing hysterically as the general population of Hogwarts walked in from the entrance hall. Their faces were priceless and filled with complete disgust at the smell being emitted from several dozen well placed dung bombs (Predictable, but classic as James said). Remus walked in shaking his head as he saw me, James, and Sirius giggling at the table.<p>

"You know, at the beginning of the year, I had the impression that you were going to be a well behaved child." Remus directed the comment at me.

"I did too." I stiffened my laughter and turned to the breakfast I had in front of me.

"What happened then?"

"This is much more fun. You should try it." I laughed. I was about to set into my peanut butter toast when the post came in. A large brown puff of owl landed in the middle of the table and had four letters tied to its leg. I reached over to pull them off as nobody else made a move towards the owl, wondering who would send four letters at once. As I looked at each I realized on the outside of the scrolls of parchment a name was written. "Sirius Black, James Potter, Nicole Tallow, Lily Evans."

I tossed each person their respective letter, and unrolled my own, wondering who it could be from. I read as follows;

Dear Miss Tallow,

Let me formally welcome you to a dinner party two Fridays from now. I hope to get to know you better and speak more lengthily about your family's history, as well as your potions skills.

There is no need to respond, but the party will be two weeks from today at Seven PM sharp in the fourth floor hall.

Sincerely

Professor H. E. F. Slughorn

I looked over Sirius's shoulder, to see if his note had said the same thing, which it had. Remus shot me a questioning look, so I handed him my letter. He read it quickly then rolled his eyes.

"Slughorn's known for having parties where he invites the student's who's families have the oldest names or the student's with the most promise in potions to parties and special events." Remus explained. I nodded, understanding why he invited those of us that he had. The Potter's and Blacks were old families, so were the Quinn's. And Lily was one of the most skilled potioneers in our grade.

"Wonder why you didn't get one?" I questioned Remus. He gave a half hearted shrug. "Well boys, we going? What about you Lils?"

"A dinner party?" Sirius said with disgust. "I'd prefer not. I've done enough of those."

"Well I want to go, if only because Slughorn said we would talk about the potions." I said to the group. Lily nodded in agreement. James shrugged then.

"If you two are going, I'll tag along; see what it's about at least." And that was that. We managed to finally get through breakfast, and then braved the smell of the entrance hall to make it to Transfiguration on time.

* * *

><p>Soon enough it was two weeks later and Lily and I were up in the dormitory getting ready for the dinner. Sirius had his mind set completely against attending, saying he was going to keep Peter Company for the night since Remus was off visiting his mother who was sick again. I worried for the woman, and wondered what she was sick with because she looked very healthy when we left Remus for the holidays, although not to long before he'd been visiting her again.<p>

"How do I look?" Lily asked, bringing me out of my daydream. I'd asked Slughorn if we were to wear our uniforms or our muggle clothing to the party, receiving the answer of muggle attire. I looked over at Lily, who was looking rather nice. The forest green turtleneck sweater worked perfectly with her hair.

"Good. Me?" I questioned. She shot me a look and I giggled at her reaction. I'd yet to pull on acceptable clothing, having pulled on rainbow elephant shorts and an overly big t-shirt once I got out of the shower.

"Get dressed! We need to leave in a few minutes." I rolled my eyes at her and grabbled a red sweater and jeans out of the drawer. Lily gave me a once over again since I'd gotten dressed, the said "You're lucky for your dark hair being in Gryffindor. Red suits you. My hair, it just clashes."

"I'd kill for your looks Lily. Don't bash what you have." I teased her. She threw a pillow at me, telling me likewise. "Alright, alright, let's get going then."

The two of us made our way out of the dormitory and into the common room. I was planning on waiting for James to come out, but Lily wanted to go and meet Severus who'd also gotten an invitation. We agreed to meet up again at the dinner, so neither one of us needed to abandon one of the boys. I stood in the common room, leaning on a couch talking with Sirius and Peter. Soon enough James came down looking presentable and put together (which is asking quite a bit, but not as much as Sirius, who simply refuses to tie his ridiculous tie).

"Ready? Where's Lily at?" He questioned as he approached me. I nodded in response to the first question.

"She went to meet Severus. Speaking of which, you guys have been pretty quiet in regards to him since winter break. I'm suspicious." I eyed James and Sirius who was lounging on the couch. Both gave me the 'innocent eyes', and I sighed, dropping the subject. "Sure you don't want to come Sirius?"

"Nope." He replied popping his p at the end. "Have loads of fun though, and do tell Sluggy that I said hello won't you?"

Before I even had to think up a response to that question I walked away from him, with James jogging a few steps to catch up to me. We walked down to the hall where we were instructed to meet, and as we entered the simple room I glanced around to see if Lily had arrived yet. I couldn't find her, but I did see a rather large Professor Slughorn lumbering towards James and me.

"Hello Miss Tallow, Mr. Potter. Glad you could make it. Are the rest of your invited housemates on the way? Marline has already arrived."

"Sirius said to tell you hello, but he politely declined your invitation for tonight." I replied, although making the hello much less sarcastic than Sirius had actually said it. "And Lily should be here any minute."

"Alright then. We'll have more conversation over dinner, but do enjoy the mingling time. You're all first years here, so you should know them." He walked off to go and greet some other students, leaving James and I to deal with ourselves. James and I managed to successfully mingle with some of the other invitee's. I had a rather interesting conversation with a ginger kid from Hufflepuff.

"So you're the American right?" He questioned. "Where from?"

"Jersey. And your name is?" I responded. I _loved_ it when people started off conversation with you without an introduction, or asking for your name.

"Gideon. Gideon Prewitt. My twin's around here somewhere, Fabian. So how do you like the UK Jersey?" He asked.

"I'm from New Jersey, that's not my name you know." I retorted, a tad bit of irritation creeping into my voice.

"But you see, that's the fun of it. I _know_ you've got a name. It irritates you that I called you Jersey, and if only for that fact I believe I will continue to call you Jersey. But since you seem to insist, what's your given name Jersey?"  
>I growled slightly at the teasing coming from a person that I didn't really know. He reminded me of a certain Gryffindor who refused to come to this party. "Nicole Tallow."<p>

"See, Nicole, Jersey, same number of syllables, same number of letters, same thing practically." I rolled my eyes. Before I could respond to him I saw Lily enter the room with Severus. Lily waved me over once she caught sight of me, and Severus moved away to go and see some of his housemates.

"I've got to go. Nice talking to you. Red." I smirked at the expression on his face when he worked out what I called him. Retaliation was the best option in this case. I walked away and met Lily halfway through the crowd.

"Who was that?" she questioned, referring to the conversation I'd just left.

"Remember how we decided there couldn't be anybody as irritating as Sirius? Well Gideon Pruitt comes pretty stinking close." I rolled my eyes thinking about the conversation. "Whatever, come on. It's nearly time to eat, let's sit."

At dinner I sat in between Lily and James, and all the while I noticed James looking around my back to steal glances at the redhead to my left. I decided not to bring it up right then, but would worry about it later. Slughorn was speaking to the entire table about the Pruitt family, and then moved on to speak with Severus about how his father was. Severus got really quiet then, not wanting to admit that his father was an abusive alcoholic. When he said nothing, Slughorn became rather flustered at the awkward silence.

"Well… umm, it's a beautiful moon tonight isn't it? Full and all" he asked, trying to reclaim the conversation, "Nicole, you know we were suppose to have a full harvest moon about a week before we left for Christmas break, but sadly it was covered by clouds. Some of the most complex potions can only be brewed by harvest moon. It would have been nice…"

He trailed off, giving in to the awkward silence that had filled the table. Although he had feebly tried to get me into conversation about potions, I was finished with this dinner. I could see why Sirius didn't want to go, they were terribly bland. But I thought about what Slughorn had said. Full moons.

James jumped a mile in the air when I gasped. The entire table turned to look at me. I shook myself to clear my head. Remus was always visiting his mother during the full moon. Could his mom be a werewolf? It would explain a lot.

"Sorry. I thought I saw a centipede." I said quietly. Trying to bring attention off of me. As soon as Remus got back, I needed to talk to him.

**AN: SO. Hello. Umm yeah. Well since I am writing this, parts of it are going to follow cannon, and parts of it aren't. As often said, it's all owned by JKR but I'm the one who's playing around in her world, with her characters. Speaking of playing, anybody gotten into Pottermore yet? I'm waiting for my welcome letter... Oh well. So if there's anythign bugging you, or you really like, let me know if you want**

**Love**


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Enjoy.

The Sunday afternoon after the party Remus came back. As usual we asked about his mom (or in everybody else's case his 'mum'), and he said that she was getting better when he left, but wasn't completely well. His palor was the same as always, saying to us all that the stress of worring about her took a lot out of our friend. When James and Sirius had wandered off, with Peter trailing behind them I had my chance.

"Remus, can I talk to you?" I asked quietly. Something in my tone or expresson must have tipped him off that it was serious. His face darkened, and he nodded. Without having to say it out loud, we stood up and walked out of the common room, going down the hall until we found an abandonded classroom. Once we sat down, before I had a chance to speak, Remus broke the silence.

"You know. I should've known you would figure it out." He shook his head, looking slightly devastated. "At least I know you won't judge me for it."

"It was Slughorn talking about the dates of the moons, during that dinner. Suddenly it clicked, you were always visiting your mom around those times. That combined with your reaction to the lesson, it made me positive. Why didn't you tell me your mom was a werewolf?" I asked him, patting his sholder in a sign of support. Once I'd gotten the last sentence out, he sat up stick straight.

"My mum? A werewolf?" He hesitated "Sure."

With that I knew that I was wrong. It wasn't his mother.

"Don't lie to me. Remus, tell me the truth. Who's the werewolf? You dad, a sibling you didn't mention?" I demanded quietly. I wasn't going to let the issue drop. I knew I was right about the issue being a werewolf, he might as well have told me straight out when he said that I wouldn't judge him for it.

"No. None of those." He hung his head. The feel of pain just emitted from him.

"It's you, isn't it? You don't visit your mom, you transform." I asked. When he released a heavy sigh, I knew I'd hit the nail on the head.

"So." He said slowly and sadly. The dim lighting in the classroom as the sun was setting fit his mood well.

"Sew buttons on a cows tail." I shrugged. He actually broke a smile at that. "You know I don't care, we had that conversation already. Though then I though I was speaking with someone who had a prejudice against wolves, instead of actually speaking with one. Now the only issue is, do you want to tell the others?"

"No!" he said with suprising enthusiasm. "I-I can't. They might not be as accepting as you. Will you keep my secret?"

"Remmy, it's your life. If you want me to keep my mouth shut, I will." I said. But I was really thinking _The boys might not be the most observant in the world, but they aren't stupid. They'll figure it out, sooner rather than later._ Then I teased him, "Now you big wolf, gimmie a hug."

I could see that a little bit of weight lifted off Remus's sholders once I knew his secret. _It must be killing him to have to keep it from his friends_ I thought. There was nothing I could do about it, so I let the thought slip my mind. Soon enough we were leaving the classroom and heading back to the common room. Though once we arrived, I really wished we hadn't.

* * *

><p>"NICOLE!" I heard Lily screech as I entered the room. I wondered what I possibly could have done to warrant such loudness.<p>

"Yeah?" I questioned. She stormed towards me, looking as furious as furious could possibly be.

"You need to control the two idiots!" Once the words were out I knew which two idiots she had to be talking about. I glanced at Remus at my side, and he had an expression on his face of mixed terror and understanding, which probably mirrored my own. "Potter and Black have gone to far this time! I found Severus hanging upsidedown from a suit of armor on my way to meet him before lunch. You need to do something about them!"

In my head I could picture Lily stomping her foot on the ground. Not that she would do that in public, but I could imagine that.

"I'll talk to them, alright?" I asked, hoping to placate the girl for now. Still in a great huff she nodded then stormed off into the dormitory. I shook my head, and looked around the room for Sirius and James. Remus spotted them before I did, and we walked towards our three friends (Peter was with them) at a table near the window. They seemed innocent enough, playing exploding snap (I still didn't know the rules, we didn't have it in the US).

"So. Boys. What's this I hear about you bulling Severus again?" I questioned, firmly placing my hands on the table in the middle of their card game. Peter gulped and looked down at the floor, signaling that he'd been involved too. "What did I tell you about that? Lily is _livid_, and frankly, I'm not entirely pleased with you all either. Would someone care to explain?"

"Not really." Sirius grumbled. I glared at them all.

"That's enough of the bullying. Understood." I questioned, waiting for each of them to nod. Once they did I simply turned away, walking up to the dormitory after Lily. As I did, I heard Remus sit down behind me.

"She's upset with you lot. You are aware of that right?"

Upstairs in the dorm, I found Lily sitting on her bed, speaking with Xylina about the transfigureation textbook. I threw myself on Lily's bed, bouncing her up and down.

"You have your own bed you know." She said, giving me a sideways look. I smiled at her, climbing up into a sitting position, but not moving to my own bed.

"Yeah, but it's more fun here." She rolled her eyes at me, "I yelled at the boys. Not that it'll do much. I've tried before."

"They are absolutely bloody ridiculous!" She sighed. I couldn't help but agree, though I was really only upset over the concept of the harassment.

"What now?" Xylina asked, oblivious to the excitement that had occurred downstairs.

"Potter and Black caused problems for Severus again." Lily complained. Xylina threw me a look, questioning, without words the change of name for Sirius and James. I simply shrugged, assuming that the two had pushed her over the edge.

"Speaking of James." Xylina smiled mischeviousy and wiggled her eyebrows. Lily made a sound of disgust, knowing where the conversation was leading. "Nicole tells me that he was watching you the entire dinner. Apparently you've caught your first admirerer Lily."

I giggled at lily's reaction to the teasing. I'd told Xylina that James had been stealing glances at the red head all throughout the meal, and let her make of it what she wanted. Of course she made it into James liked Lily. In all truth, I suspected that her assumption wasn't far from correct. Ever since that night, James _had_ looked at Lily a bit more. The two of us had teased Lily about it to no end. Finally Lily reverted to one thing that would be perfect revenge.

"And what about you and Black?" She questioned, looking pointedly at me. I rolled my eyes, already knowing where this was going. "You had breakfast again this morning. Is there more going on there than you tell us?"  
>I gave them my usual response of no, and eventually, the conversation drifted on to other topics. Soon enough we were heading down to dinner. Once we reached the Gryffindor table I saw the boys had gathered together, and were attempting to wave me over. As I still had been livid with 34ths of the group, I decided to ignore them. Remus shot me a sympathetic look, and rolled his eyes at the others. Our trio was soon enough joined by the other two girls in our dormitory, and conversation moved causualy through the meal.

Closer to the end of dinner I heard the call of 'Sirius, no!' come from the direction of Remus, and as I turned to look and see what type of trouble the black haired boy could be causing, something heavy dropped on my sholders.

"'ello Nicole. How was your meal?" He asked casualy, leaning on me heavily. "Why didn't you come sit with us?"

"Buzz off Sirius." I retorted, jerking him off of me. Lily was glowering at him, while Xylina seemed to notice nothing. "I mean it, I'm not very happy with you right now!"

Still the stubborn boy refused to leave me in peace, so I pretended he didn't exist. Eventually, I belive he decided that it wasn't very much fun being ignored so he left, back to the sides of James, Remus, and Peter.

* * *

><p>That evening, when we were all in bed, everybody but myself was asleep. I was trying to make myself put down a book (it was a rather good one, a muggle book called 'The Giver') and sleep because of classes the next day. Just as I was about to un-lumous my wand, which was currently acting the part of a reading light, I felt my notebook heat up.<p>

I always kept the notebook by me, even when I was mad at the boys. At night it was under my pillow, so I could always feel it if they tried to talk to me. And during the day it was in my bag, if not blatently on my desk. None of the teachers were the wiser to how we always passed notes and planned schemes.

I reached under my pillow, to see what they could possibly want at eleven at night.

Nicole, we're sorry! So would you stop being mad at us, it's no fun when you won't speak with us!

**Yeah! We miss you already, and its only been a few hours.**

Please!

**Please!**

Please!

**Please!**

_Shut up and go to bed already. I'll talk to you tomorrow._

Wait. Does that mean we aren't in trouble anymore?

_Sure, if you'll go to bed._

**G'night!**

Nighty night Nicole!

**AN: Hahaha. So this was an awful chapter. I really really really don't like it. But I hope you do. It's kind of a filler chapter after the first bit. But I guess we get to see how Lily gets to hate James and Sirius. So it kind of works. But not really. So I hope the next chapter will be a bit better, but their first year is soooooo boring. Second year things will start to pick up. I hope. Well we'll see :D**

**Love**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Enjoy**

**James**

_Nicole_

Sirius

_**Remus**_

"So I was thinking." James started off; breaking the pleasant silence we were sitting in. I was sitting with Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter around the fire (still receiving glares from the 7th years), Remus, Peter, and I all reading over our notes. As much as I tried to convince Sirius and James to study, they blatantly refused. James had picked up a textbook for a few minutes and skimmed it, but Sirius hadn't so much as touched them.

"Well that's a miracle." Remus chortled from his arm chair, not bothering to look up from the transfiguration papers he was studying. That was our first test tomorrow morning. Then we only had History of Magic left the next day, Thursday. Friday was our last day of our first year at Hogwarts. I could hardly believe that the time had gone by so quickly.

"Shut up Remus." James said lightly, not meaning the words unkindly. "But seriously, no not you Sirius, put down the books and listen, I've got an idea. A bloody brilliant one. Actually Peter, it's your idea, but I've thought up something that will make it even better."

"James, I have a test to study for, even if you refuse too. Can we get to the point sometime with this century?" I complained, putting down my history book.

"So, the other day when Peter and I got lost, yet again," James started to speak again, with Sirius, Remus and I rolling our eyes. All of us got lost, it was inevitable in Hogwarts, but leave Peter and James together and you'd better set out a search party ahead of time. "And he said 'I wish we had a map'. Brilliant right?"

All that the glasseded boy received in response was blank stares and blinks. I decided the conversation wasn't really worth it and turned back to my book. Apparently Peter and Remus had the same idea, with Sirius going back to gazing at the fire.

"Guuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyysss!" He whined. "We should make a map! But not just any map, a map of Hogwarts with all its moving staircases and stuff!"

I put down my book when I finally understood fully what he was saying. He wanted to make an accurate map of Hogwarts, which moved with the school every day. It actually was a genius idea.

"It is a pretty awesome idea." I conceded finally, "But, we need to study for our tests first. Right after our History of Magic test, I say we all meet up and start exploring the school. James, Sirius, and I will bring our notebooks so we can communicate. Then we split up and start sketching."

"Sounds good to me." Peter said, "Maybe I can use it to not get lost then."

"You got it. But we'll need to keep going next year. This isn't the kind of map that can be made in a day." Remus replied. The idea had finally intrigued the entire group. The conversation about the map kept going around and around. Eventually Remus looked at the time, and said he wanted to go and review his notes one more time before bed, and that he would never get that done with us around. James and Sirius shrugged as he walked off, Peter waited a moment before thinking better of it and following Remus. For once I wasn't the first one to leave the fire.

* * *

><p>As we walked out of the history of magic room I stretched and cracked my back. We'd been leaning over our tests for an hour, and were happy to be done.<p>

"We're done!" I exclaimed, "Thank god!"

"Now off to explore?" James asked. Since last night when we all agreed to make the map, he'd been unbearable. Constantly he was asking, 'Map now?' or 'Can we do it yet?' It had only been a day and a half hours and I was ready to push him off the astronomy tower.

"Yes. So who's coming with me?" I asked. We split off into two groups. James and Peter wanted to go together, so we sent Remus with them. If we let them go off by themselves, they probably wouldn't be back in time to catch the train tomorrow. Remus had the best sense of direction out of all of us. I hopped they would cancel each other out and maybe get back around the same time as us. The trio was going to sketch out the main floor of the castle, and Sirius and I were off to the highest dungeons level, the floor just below them.

"Left or right?" I said when we reached the bottom of the stairs. Sirius glanced both ways, and then shrugged.

"Left I s'pose." That's the direction we started walking turning now and then. Eventually we came to the end of the hallway.

"Sirius let me see what you have so far." I held out my hand for the sheets of paper he was supposed to be drawing on. He blinked a few times, and then his eyes grew wide. "Sirius?"

"Whoops."

"You haven't been writing?" I wanted to scream at him. Who would be on an adventure to write a map and not write? Sirius Black, that's who, "Give it here."

Sirius laughed a bit at my aggravation over his lack of work, and the look was given to him yet again. I couldn't write on the paper without something hard and flat behind it. My notebook was simply too small, and the walls were made out of rough stone. I moved over to a picture, a painting actually, hanging on the wall. I put the paper up against it and started writing, suddenly I heard something giggle. I spun around to look at Sirius, standing behind me.

"Did you just…?" I questioned, suspicious, because it didn't sound like the black haired boy. He shook his head.

"I think the pear just laughed. And moved." I gave him a questioning look, what pear was he talking about? "The one in the portrait you're writing on."

When I glanced up, I saw that in fact I had been writing on a painting of fruit. From where the pear was, a door handle had sprouted also.

"Shall we go in then?" I asked, curious as to what could be in there. Although I was sure that the doorknob hadn't been there before, it wasn't really surprising in a magic castle.

"Sounds good to me." I pulled out my wand, just in case whatever was behind the door wasn't friendly to students. Sirius grabbed the knob and pulled open the painting. Together we climbed through the portrait hole (not unlike the one that let us into the Gryffindor common room) and found a large number of fast moving creature. As I took in the space around us I realized where we were.

"The Kitchen!" Sirius exclaimed happily. In all the time we'd been at the school, I'd never even though of where the food was made. It never really occurred to me, although I suppose it should have, because food was one of the few things you couldn't create with magic. The room was filled with activity as little people who were strangely dressed hustled around the kitchen. I realized it was nearly dinner and they were getting ready. One small person made their way over to us though.

"Hello Mr. and Miss. Snelly welcomes you to the kitchen. Can Snelly get anything for you?" She was only about three feet tall, and seemed to be wearing a pillowcase with holes cut out for a dress. I started to shake my head, but Sirius, who could eat anything at any time nodded.

"Butterbeer if you have it? Oh, and crisps." He said. Snelly wandered off, probably to get Sirius his food, and I turned to him.

"Are they little people?" I asked, having never seen anything like them before.

"House elves. Don't you have them in the states? They're like servants. They work for a wizarding family for years and years. We have one, his name is Kreature, and the thing bloody hates me. Loves Mum though." He shrugged.

"Never heard of them before." I said in amazement. Another elf made its way over to us and showed us a small table on the side where we could sit. There was a basket of chips on the table, and two butterbeers. I only got butterbeer while I was in Brittan, they didn't sell it in the states. "Why are they wearing such strange clothes?"

"Mah? Oh dey bear dotse-" Sirius started coughing because he'd been talking while he had food in his mouth. I pushed his drink towards him and allowed him time to catch his breath again.

"Alright?" I questioned. He nodded and gained his composure.

"They wear those because it's a sign of their servitude. Once they get clothes they're free, and don't work for you anymore. They can request a salary and all that. Giving them clothes is like laying them off really." I nodded, and thought about what he said.

"They don't get pay then? It doesn't seem fair." I said, the realization of the injustice dawning on me.

"It's the way it is. The need to serve's been bread into them at this point. Offering them a salary is insulting."

"But it should be offered anyway." I nodded, determined in my opinion. Sirius shrugged, apparently indifferent to the matter either way. I thought about it more and more, munching on the chips. I decided I would write Dumbledore a letter on the matter over the summer. Letters were the best way to get your opinion across.

As Sirius and I sat and watched, the elves continued to bustle around the kitchen. There had to be a hundred, if not more, of them. They were placing what looked to be tonight's dinner (Pot roast, delicious!) on four tables, which mirrored the ones that were in the great hall. Magic must have transported the food upstairs when it was time to eat. My stomach rumbled at the smell of the food, and the fact that dinner was just around the corner. I swore that the elves must have had hearing tuned to hungry students because Snelly was at my side in an instant.

"Miss and Mr. would like dinner now?" She asked. I looked at Sirius.

"Wanna just eat here?" I questioned him.

"Sounds good to me." He smiled "To much work to walk up there now."

"Sure Snelly, we'll eat down here. And please call me Nicole, this buffoon is Sirius."

"Snelly will get the food right to you Miss Nicole and Mr. Sirius." She squeaked, and hurried away. Within minutes she was back with plates of pot roast and a basket of bread. "Here you are Mr. Sirius and Miss Nicole."

She was backing away before I could tell her not to call me Miss again. I shook my head and turned to the meal. Sirius had already buttered his bread and cut into his meat by the time I looked.

"You're ridiculous! Sirius, slow down or you'll upset your stomach." I scolded as I took two slices of bread and made a sandwich out of the roast. That's the way we had it at home and I always ate pot roast that way, even when it earned me strange looks. He did slow down, but only after teasingly calling me 'mum'.

"We should definitely come down here for breakfast on Sunday Nicole." He said, referring to our habit. I smiled, then at a bit of my sandwich, thinking about our quiet time.

"Only one problem with that. Sunday I'll be in Jersey, and you'll be in London." I frowned when I remembered that we were leaving tomorrow. He screwed up his face thinking, and then sighed.

"We can't even just write to each other over the journals." He responded. We'd tried that over winter break, but then the time difference made it so that when he got up at our normal time of six, it was only one in the morning in NJ. And if I was up at six, it was nearly lunch time here. He muttered, "Bloody time change."

"We're really going home tomorrow Sirius. Our first year is over, only six more to go." I shook my head. The fact that the year was over hadn't really clicked until that moment.

"Don't be so melodramatic Nicole. We have six whole years of fun ahead of us." He started to bounce up and down in his chair. I laughed and started to speak when the Journal on my left grew warm. I flipped it open.

**Where are you two? Dinner's nearly over!**

_We'll meet you up in the common room in a bit, don't worry._

Yeah, you won't believe what we found!

**Tell us!**

_**Nicole, Sirius do you want us to bring you food to the common room?**_

_Remus? Ahh no. We'll be fine. How are you writing in here…?_

**Stole my notebook that's how**!

**_Well you wouldn't ask them._**

_Okay boys. Behave yourselves and Sirius and I will see you in a bit._

"What was that?" Sirius asked, closing his own notebook. I shook my head in response. "Suppose we ought to go tell them what we found then?"

"Let's finish eating first." I dug into my carrots and potatoes, and Sirius did the same.

About twenty minutes later we were climbing back into the common room. We made our way over to Peter, who was the only one we could find.

"Hey Pete. Where are the other two?" I asked as I flopped on the couch. Peter who was sitting on the other side bounced up in the air a little bit, making Sirius laugh.

"They kept at it after you guys had stopped writing in the notebook. Eventually James flicked ink at Remus, and Remus went back at it. Everyone in the great hall was watching them chase after one another with ink; Merlin knows where they got it all from. McGonagall was giving them an earful last I saw. She wouldn't let me stay, so I came back to wait for you two"

"They'll never learn. Though I figured Remus would have known better than to retaliate." I shook my head, but laughed a bit because I could imagine them doing it. "Well I suppose we should wait for them. But tell us what you guys got done Peter."

With a bit of encouragement Peter shared all that they'd gotten done with us. They mapped out half of the main floor of the school. Sirius and I gave a little look to one another when we realized how little we'd gotten done. James and Remus came back while Peter was in the middle of his explanation and threw in little details here and there. Remus said they found a staircase that somehow lead to the Armor Gallery on the third floor on the other side of the castle. Sirius and I got around to telling them about finding the kitchens. That made the three quite excited, and explained to them how we had missed dinner. I eventually left the telling of tales to Sirius, and bid the group goodnight. I hadn't spent any time with Lily and Xylina that day, because of testing and then adventuring.

I found the pair of them up in the dorm. The scene was almost an exact replica of the one that I had witnessed before winter break. Xylina was running around the room like mad trying to find and pack up all her things. I smiled and sat on my trunk.

"You've known that we were leaving tomorrow for forever X. Why did you leave it until now?" I questioned.

"Lily just asked me the same thing seconds ago. I don't have an answer for you two smart alecs. And what kind of nickname is 'X'." She rambled as she glared at me. She had paused her frantic packing for long enough to give us both a very Xylina pose. One hand on the hip, and a strong Greek glare. Once she was packing again, and paying us little attention, Lily and I looked at each other and sniggered. She stood up and walked over to me, careful to avoid being run over.

"Where were you at dinner?" Lily asked as she sat down on my bed. I spun myself around on the trunk so I was facing her.

"Well you know how I told you I was going exploring with the boys?" She nodded. "Well Sirius and I found the kitchens. They are actually right underneath the great hall. Filled with these cute little things called house elves. I don't really like the fact that they don't get pay, but they seem happy enough…"

"Wait. So you ate dinner in the school kitchens with the boys?" She shook her head. "I swear I saw Pettigrew. And Potter and Remus were just in trouble with McGonagall."

"Yeah, I wish I could have seen that. It sounds like it was pretty entertaining." Xylina, who was apparently listening while she was packing, assured me that it was one of the funniest things that had happened this year. "But no, it was only Sirius and I at dinner."

Lily raised her eyebrows and Xylina slowed down a bit. I knew what was coming.

"No. Don't even start. Otherwise, Lily, I can go into how James was staring at you during the History of Magic exam."

The subject was dropped at that. Lily and I eventually got up and helped Xylina pack away all her things, so it wouldn't have to be done in the morning, and we talked late in to the night.

**AN: So that's the start of the Marauders Map. I bet you're all happy now. And the kitchens have been discovered. I want you all to know that they ARE in fact playing pranks (mainly the boys of course), but I don't write many in becasue I'm pretty suckish at thinking them up. So you get what you get, am I right? Well this is all for now. I hope you enjoyed it. **

**Love**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Enjoy**

It hardly felt like the last day of school as we piled down to breakfast the next morning. Xylina was misrebly grumpy as per usual, and the great hall was filled with it's normal chatter. The atmosphear was a little bit melancholy though, because we all knew it was time to go home for the summer.

"So you're Mum will handle letters for us over the summer?" Lily asked as we sat down at the table. I nodded.

"Yeah. I talked to her, and she said that she'll carry the mail for me back and forth whenever she's here. You address it to "Nicole Tallo Via Patricia Tallo" at the ministry and it'll get there." I responded to her question. I'd told all my friends that that was the best way to contact me, unless they were James and Sirius of course. Lily and Remus also had been given my phone number for emergencies. "But I'll be here for the second half of the summer. So you can come to my Gram's house."

"I wish I could come. Mum and Dad want to spend the entire summer in Greece again. I really hate having to go _every _summer." Xylina muttered. She continued to mumble under her breath. I laughed. I would love to spend the summer in Greece, and I knew she actually loved it too. As breakfast finished, people started to wander out of the great hall. Only a trickle of students at first, then more and more started leaving. We were among the last to go, not willing to see the year end so quickly. When we got back to the dormitory for the last time for first year, I waved to the boys. I'd meet them on the train, but I was going to ride the carrages down with the girls.

I'd asked Lily to come sit with us, but she refused. She said she wouldn't go sit with 'Prats like Potter and Black', although she did promise to come and say goodbye to me before we arrived. Xylina was going to sit with Lily on the train, because she'd sat with me and the boys on the way back from winter break. They'd offered for me to sit with them too, but I'd refused, and I think they knew I would.

Xylina had managed to get close to the front of the line to catch the carrages down to the train, so we were early arriving at the scarlet engine. Together we shoved our luggage onto the steam entine, and found a couple of compartments. One was farther down in the section than the other, so I waved goodbye for then, and moved down the asile. I found and empty compartment and bunked down in there.

While I waited for the boys to show up I pulled a book out of my bag, and started to read. Just as I was getting to the interesting part of the book, I heard the door to the compartment open. Having assumed it was only the boys, I didn't look up.

"Good book Jersey?" I jumped a mile in the air when I saw Gideon leaning over me. Once I calmed down a bit I shot him a glare.

"I was enjoying it, until you came in Red." He pouted. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? Don't you love my company Jersey?" I laughed and placed a piece of paper in my book to save the place. "Actually, I was looking for my brother when I saw you, and then I decided to bother you, which is always a good option."

"For someone who I've only talked with twice before, you are rather… como se dice?" I received a funny look for saying that. "I am in England right, not the other side of the world or anything? Como se dice means how do you say in Spanish. People use it when they can't think of the right word."

"You're barmy. But I did want to see you before we left for the summer." He shook his head and laughed. Then the compartment door opened yet again, and in came my boys. Remus lead the way, with the other three following. Gideon and I both looked up when they were coming in.

"Did we interrupt something?" Remus asked, a cheeky grin on his face. I turned a tad red (and by a tad, I mean my face was on fire), and rolled my eyes.

"Not at all Lupin." Gideon chided in a friendly tone, "I'd best be finding Fabian, he'd be lost without me. Write me over the summer Jersey!"

"Alright, let me send the first letter, otherwise your mail won't ever get to me. I'll send directions in my letter for how to get the mail to me." I waved and he smirked before trotting out of the compartment. Remus gave me a look, the said

"Jersey? Should I ask?"

"Really, no." I shook my head. Soon enough we were pulling out of hogsmead station and our first year was gone. Our group made the most of our train ride, although it was regretiably short. Soon enough, Lily and Xylina had come and said their goodbyes for the summer, and the train was pulling into Kings Cross Station.

"Sirius, you're parents showing up this time?" I questioned, not unkindly. I knew that Mom was going to meet me at the station this time, and our entire group was prowling for our parents. He shrugged next to me, as we said goodbye to Remus. His mom and dad were standing near one of the benches on the platform waiting for him. When I hugged him goodbye I whispred in his ear.

"Good luck this summer. You'll be fine moon boy, but don't be afraid to write me, or call, if you need me." Remus nodded and gave me a warm smile, before turning to his parents. We walked around for awhile more, then found my mom standing next to Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

"Mum, Dad! Mrs. Tallo!" James yelled, drawing the entire platform's attention. I shook my head, but noticed Peter go red as everybody stared. I patted his sholder as we walked up to James's and my parents.

"Hello Mr. Potter, Mrs. Potter." I said after I'd been released from my mother's hug.

"Hello dear. How was school? Oh this must be Peter Pettigrew. You're the splitting image of your father." Mrs. Potter doted. Peter nodded a bit, before saying he saw his parents. We said goodbye and then it was only Sirius's parents who were missing.

"Remus or Sirius?" My mother questioned. I realized that I hadn't properly introduced him to my mother.

"I'm Sirius Black ma'am." He said very politely. It was something I was rather unaccustomed too, as Sirius was possibly the most unpolite character I knew.

"Nice to meet you Sirius. I'm Patricia Tallo. Are your parents here?" She asked curiously. He looked around once again.

"I haven't seen them yet Mrs. Tallo. But I'll keep looking." He said, but a disappointed tone had started to creep into his voice. He'd genuinely hoped they would show up that time. Sirius, James, and I stood up on a bench to see over the crowd and look for his parents. Sirius had described them for us, so we'd be alble to spot them. Meanwhile my mother and Jame's parents talked.

"I'll make sure he gets home alright. From what Nicole said, it's on the way to the Ministry. It's not a problem for us. Go home, spend some time with your son while he still has the patience for you. He'll want to be back at school soon enough, so enjoy him while you have it." My mom laughed, and the Potter's nodded.

"James we're going to leave now." They called lightly. "Nicole, Sirius, we hope to see plenty of you over the summer. Maybe you'll come to stay will us?"

"Of course they will!" James said. I shook my head at him.

"Go home James." I told him and waved him off. "And behave yourself!"

"Go home yourself Nicole. You're starting to sound like one of us!" I made a face when he called that over his sholder. That left only my mother, Sirius, and myself. We wandered through the thinning crowd a bit, looking for his Mom and Dad. Finally, my mother huffed, and stopped walking. She shook her head and muttered something to herself, before turning to the two of us.

"Enough. If we haven't found them by now, they aren't here. Sirius, we'll take you home." She said with an air of determination.

"Thank you ma'am." He said quietly, looking a bit ashamed. My mother smiled at him, then shrunk both of our trunks so they would fit in our pockets. I wish we had been able to do that last time, because we both looked a tad ridiculous walking down the street with a couple of trunks and a cat carrier. We exited the platform and started walking, Sirius had told Mom his street, so we knew where we were headed.

"I've heard plenty about you though my daughters letter Sirius. It seems you're the instigator in the group?" We both looked at her funny. She clarified. "You're the one that starts all the trouble."

"You aren't supposed to tell your _Mom_ that Nicole." Sirius hissed at me. I laughed.

"Mom and Dad know just about everything that goes on. They know that you managed to get detention twice already this year too!" I teased him, and he made a face, thinking of the times he'd spent writing lines with McGonagall. We went back and forth for awhile, walking in front of my mom.

"We're at Grimmauld Place, Sirius. Which house is it?" Mom interrupted our banter.

"Number twelve. I'll be alright from here though." He shrugged. My mom shook her head.

"I'd rather see you all the way there Sirius. I'd also like a word with your parents." Mom said promptly. I gave a nervous glance at Sirius. My mother had picked up her full on English accent again, and that meant there was a storm brewing. I knew that this meeting wasn't going to end well.

We climbed the steps to the house labled 12. Sirius knocked on the door, and I heard someone run to the door lightly, while a woman's voice yelled inside. Heavier, slower footsteps reached the door soon after. After a moment's pause (to check who was at the door probably), the locks were unhooked, and the door swung open. There stood a rather large man. He wasn't fat, but he was broad, and looked very strong.

"Hi Dad." Sirius said.

"Son. Who's this?" Sirius's father questioned, gesturing at my mother and myself.

"You don't remember me Orion?" My mother questioned, with a smile and a perfect british accent. A puzzled look crossed his face, as if he could almost recognize her. "Patricia Quinn, Tallo now though. We went to school together, I was in Ravenclaw."

"Quinn? I haven't seen you in ages. What happened to you? Why are you here now?" Orion Black still stood in the doorway, and us on the stoop. There was a clear divide between us and him. Sirius was with us.

"I work for the Ministry as a diplomat of sorts. I live in America most of the time, married an American muggle. But my daughter," She placed a hand on my sholder, as the man's eyes widened in shock and a bit of disgust. "goes to school with your son. Who was left at King's Cross, not only once, but twice."

When she mentioned Sirius she also put her hand on his sholder, the same protective gesture she made to me moments before. In the same way that Sirius's father divided his son from his family, my mother's simple movement grouped him into ours.

"You soiled a perfectly good pure bloodline Quinn. Also, I'll worry about my son, he's not your responsibility." The man said, and reached out to pull Sirius inside. "He's perfectly able to get back to the house by himself."

"Sirius, you'll be alright from here?" My mother looked down at the boy standing closer to his father now. He looked a little nervous, but nodded.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you. Bye Nicole. I'll write you." I nodded and smiled. From inside I heard a young voice call out. Sirius smiled and turned about, towards the hall and called back. Before he went in, he gave me one last wave. Mr. Black still stood in the doorway looking at my mother, as she stared back, some kind of silent communication went on.

"I would thank you if you would leave my stair now." He nodded. The look my mother gave him could have killed, but soon enough it was gone, and we were on our way down the street once more. I was quiet as we walked, but I could feel my mother relaxing a bit as we got farther away from the house. I wondered what it was like for Sirius to have that man as a father. I wondered what it was like to arrive home to a family that wouldn't pick you up at the train station.

"I like Sirius. He's a good boy, and I believe he'll turn into a fine gentleman, despite his parents. I hadn't realized that he was Orion's son." She shook her head, but I could tell she was a lot more relaxed because her accent had turned back to its normal mix. "I look forward to seeing what Sirius is like when he's older, though. I'd like to get to know him better."

**AN: So I'm not sure if I've done this through the entire story, but I might have been spelling Nicole's last name differently through the story. In chapter one and in chapter nine it's Tallo, which is correct. But I might have spelled it Tallow through the rest. So until I get a chance to go back and correct that, please ignore that. I haven't been paying that close attention. **

**Also, I'd like feedback on how Sirius's relationship with his parent's is. I can't imagine him hating his parents right off, I feel like he would have gotten along with them when he was younger, before he became a gryffindor. Then I feel like it would have gone downhill slowly. So that's that.**

**Love **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Enjoy**

"And whatever you do, don't look down." I winked at Remus as I spun away from him and started to fly away. He was hovering a few feet off the ground, and already panicking. I heard James chuckle above me, and Peter laugh from below (He refused to get on a broom).

"You two are god awful teachers!" Remus yelled at us. I left him to struggle for a few more minutes then went over. I helped him gain control of the broom, and flew a few laps with him. After a little bit of practice he seemed ever so slightly more comfortable with the broom.

"You would think you've never had a flying lesson before Remus." James came down to fly at the same level as us. Remus slowed down his broom then turned it to face us.

"I've never had a flying lesson before." He said. James gave him a curious look, and I was confused for a moment also. "I was visiting my mum on the day we had our lessons."

"How is she by the way?" James questioned. I looked away from the two of them and started rubbing at a rough spot on my broom uncomfortably. I hated lying to everybody, but I knew it was for Remus.

"She's alright. Some weeks are better than others." Remus shrugged. I hoped that would be the end of the conversation, but had no such luck.

"What is it she has again? I don't remember." James questioned non-chalet, and almost insensitively. I bit my lip as I waited for Remus to respond. When the blond hesitated I cut in.

"James, I though Sirius was coming?"

"He said he would try at least." James shrugged, and then turned his broom towards the house. "I'll grab my notebook, and see if he's on his way."

Remus gave me a subtle, grateful look, and I smiled back at him, while we watched James fly off towards his house. I guided my broomstick down to the ground where Peter was sitting and hopped off. I turned and watched Remus fumble to the ground, although at five feet off the grass, he could easily have simply hopped off.

Remus and I dropped down on the grass next to Peter, and I took a moment to take in the grounds surrounding the Potter house. And by house I mean mansion. Jamesie was a rich boy. It was the first time any of us had been to his house, so our reaction was a bit shell shocked when we got there, or at least I was. On the ground the three of us spoke about our summers. I had been able to keep in better touch with James and Sirius because of the notebooks, but the owl post fell dreadfully far behind, especially when my mom spent time in only one office or the other. There was still a week left before we would go back to Hogwarts, and we had all been invited to spend it with James's family.

After a few minutes a shadow passed over our heads and we looked up to see James floating above us.

"On his way." He smiled. We all grinned back, we were back together, and it was almost time for second year. Sirius hadn't show up by lunch, so we headed in to the house to eat something. As we sat and discussed anything and everything we heard the doorbell ring. In an instant James and I were up, with Remus and Peter trailing by only a few seconds. Our sandwiches lay forgotten, and we were running by Mrs. Potter (leaving her with a very surprised expression) to the door. We threw open the door. Standing there was the missing member of our group. We all pretty much yelled greetings at one another, and I managed to pull myself out of the tangle of arms that was occurring. I watched the boys try to get through the door in a mass, and laughed when they got stuck in the doorway.

"Our group. Back together at last." I smiled as we sat back down at the table and continued to eat our lunches. Mrs. Potter came over with a sandwich for Sirius, and he relayed his thanks. James and Remus had started conversing about something or the other.

"We need a name." Peter said. I turned my attention to Peter quickly, latching on to the idea.

"That we do." Sirius looked confused, then questioned.

"A name for what?"

"A name for our group, what else?" I answered, "We need a way to refer to ourselves."

A smile spread across Sirius's face. I didn't like the look of it.

"Team awesome." At this I placed my head in my hands and made a rather strangled noise. Peter laughed, and Sirius pouted at my obvious disrespect for the name he had chosen. James and Remus let their conversation die off and gave me a look of amusement crossed with curiosity. Peter quickly explained to them what was going on, and they were both fond of the idea. For the rest of lunch we threw out ideas and disregarded them all.

* * *

><p>Just a day before school started Mr. Potter had taken the day off, so that he and Mrs. Potter could take us to Diagon Ally for our school things. After we all had collected money from the bank, we were off to get what we needed. Mrs. Potter and I split off from the boys (Including Mr. Potter) for a bit. I needed new robes, as I had grown another two inches over the summer, so now at five foot five inches I towered over the boys (who hadn't grown an inch).<p>

"A little time away from those rambunctious boys can't be a bad thing, am I correct dear?" Mrs. Potter asked as we walked out of earshot. I smiled at her.

"Peace and quiet for a bit at least." It was nice to be able to spend a little time away from the boys, after being around them constantly for almost a week. Normally I had my time with the Lily and Xylina to break up the noise, but at the Potters I was with them constantly. As I was getting fitted, Mrs. Potter and I chatted.

"I'm glad James has you all for friends. You seem like a good group." She said at one point.

"Yeah. I'm lucky to have them all. As exhausted as they make me, I really can't imagine not having them around. It was so strange this summer, back in America you know? I kept wanting to talk books with Remus, play chess with Peter, explore with James, and meet Sirius on Sunday mornings." I sighed. I loved the United States, but my friends meant the world to me.

"Meet on Sundays?" Mrs. Potter asked curiously. I nodded, and was about to elaborate for her, when Madam Malkin told me I was done. Shrugged off my new robes, and put them in the bag at my feet.

"Yes. Sirius and I both get up early on Sundays and eat breakfast before anybody else is up. It's the one moment where the school is entirely quiet, and we enjoy it. The others don't. Even Lily tried to get up and join us one day, but even she prefers sleeping in." I laughed at the memory. It had been an interesting breakfast, Lily was almost like a zombie, and Sirius and I just sat there and gave each other looks through the whole meal. I think we were both secretly pleased when she decided not to join us again.

Mrs. Potter gave a little laugh, and a knowing smile. I assumed that James had told her about Lily at some point, and was imagining the story. Before either of us had the opportunity to say anything more we spotted the boys outside Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. Mr. Potter had two bowls of ice cream sitting in front of him, in addition to the one he was eating.

"Though you two might enjoy some ice cream." He smiled at us as we approached. "For the young lady, butterscotch with whipped cream and no cherry, as recommended by the boys. And for my dear wife, rum ripple with chocolate sprinkles."

"Thank you Mr. Potter." I grinned, and thanked the boys as well, before laughing at the memories this particular ice cream brought up. We had a rather complex ice cream conversation during one of the feasts during the previous year. I was completely shocked to find that such a thing as butterscotch ice cream existed. We went round in circles with James, Remus, and Sirius trying to convince me that such a thing was a reality (While Peter, like me, had never heard of such a thing). The whole argument was finally settled when Sirius picked up a spoon, and used it to shovel up a bit of some tan frozen treat. Then he ever so gently (Heavy sarcasm there, if you didn't pick it up) shoved it in my mouth. My life was forever changed by the discovery of butterscotch ice cream.

Together our group made our way through our school lists and finally we had everything. It was nearing four in the afternoon, and it was nearly time to go home.

"We have time for one more shop if you all want." Mr. Potter suggested. I was curious as to what else there was. Remus and I had spent plenty of time in the book store, and we had already gotten all our supplies. "I'd recommend looking at the new Quidditch supply store."

James, Sirius, and I all perked up at this. Even Remus looked a bit interested in the mention of the new shop. All week we had been working on his flying, and he had come to actually be quite good. Not that he was much good with any Quidditch supplies though, he had trouble focusing on both the broom and the game.

"I don't remember seeing a Quidditch supply store last year." I said to Mr. Potter as we walked towards the shop.

"It's actually pretty new. I think it only moved in this spring. I'm surprised that James didn't find out about it sooner." He shrugged a bit, knowing how his son was about the sport. I rolled my eyes at the black haired boy as well, but hurried up to the front of our group along with him as soon as I could see the store.

It was a bit crowded inside 'Quality Quidditch Supply' but I didn't really pay that much attention to the people. I was amazed at the supplies that were in the store. The first thing I saw was the large display of golden snitches in the middle of the room. There had to be nearly a hundred different snitches in the glass case, each one slightly different from the last. As I tore my gaze away from the glistening golden orbs, I saw shelves stocked with beaters bats, and quaffles. I walked over to the supplies and examined them.

I noticed James staring curiously at a corner of the store that had some basket like objects, and a few balls that looked quite a bit like a quaffle. I smiled at the confused look on his face as he tried to figure out what he was looking at.

"Quodpot." I said as I approached him. He looked at me confused. "It's played more in America. I've tried my hand at it a few times; it's a bit… brasher… than Quidditch, but a lot of fun. You and Sirius would probably like it a lot. The quod, that ball you have there, it explodes."

He pretty much threw the ball away from him then, expecting it to explode in his hands. I laughed and told him he would have to tap it with his wand before it activated. He wanted to know why the American's would play such a game where the ball exploded. I tried to explain to him that it was exciting and fun.

"Hey guys, did you see this?" I stopped my explanation about the pros of Quodpot to James and turned to where I had heard Sirius call from. His head stuck out from a doorway, and he waved us over. Together James and I made our way towards the room, and as we got closer, I saw above the door that there was a sign that read "Brooms". As we stepped into the smaller room I was amazed at all the different types of brooms that there could be. It may have been a small room, but there were at least 30 different types of brooms up on the walls. There were various Cleansweeps, and Nimbus's and even a few different Twigg's (Twiggs are children's brooms that only fly a few feet off the ground). I looked at all the different models in amazement, and a little bit of envy.

"I've been saving up, and I think I'm going to buy one." Sirius, who had come up to stand next to me, said.

"Really?" I questioned. "Which one?"

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me over to see the broom he was thinking of getting. I read the facts and told him that I thought it looked rather neat, but he should ask James, as he knew more about the broom models than I did. He nodded and looked pleased that he was getting a new broom. After about a half an hour more, we were all walking happily out of the store. Even Remus and Peter were excited about Sirius's new purchase.

That evening when we all were back at the house it hit me for the first time. We were going back to Hogwarts. Finally.

**AN: So here it is. The start of year two. Hopefully more will happen (I have no clue, seriously.) Anyway. I was sitting here wondering why I never got any notifications about chapter 10. So I go online to look at it, and realized that I hadn't uploaded it. You all must kind of hate me. Because I've had this written for two weeks now, and I never realized that I hadn't uploaded it. Oh well. No harm no foul right? Anyway, comments, questions, concerns or butterflys hit me up ;)**

**Love**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Enjoy**

"Lily!"

"Lilllly!"

"LILY!"

"Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily, Lily!"

"Nicole, I'm pretty sure she doesn't hear you." I frowned and marched away from the boys. I had sat with them for the entire train ride, and the carriage ride. I had planned to sit with the girls for the carriages, but I hadn't been able to find them anywhere. Now that I had finally spotted my red headed friend, I was highly disappointed that she seemed to be paying no attention to my calling. I stormed over to where she was sitting. Xylina saw me coming, but I put a finger up to my lips to signal her to be quiet.

I stood directly behind Lily, who was continuing with her story, which she had been telling as I walked up. I leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"Lilith Evans, how dare you ignore my call? You have invoked the wrath of me upon you!" I said in as menacing a voice as I could manage. She bristled at first, jumping because she didn't expect me to be behind her. Xylina giggled as Lily turned around to look at me properly.

"Nicole! My name is Lily, not Lilith, you know that." She got up and gave me a proper hug. I smiled, but then retorted.

"Well you didn't answer me when I called you, so I thought maybe you changed your name."She shook her head and tisked at me. "'lina, I'd come over and hug you, but the table is awfully long, and you're on the wrong side."

"No, you two are on the wrong side."

"No, you are."

"I'm right."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Hush up, the both of you. It's time for the sorting." I stuck my tong out at Lily, but turned to watch the first years walk up to the hat. I daydreamed, for a bit, remembering what I'd felt like last year waiting for my name to be called. It was dreadful being later in the alphabet, waiting to see if you are going into the same house as your friends. Being last must be a dreadful thing.

"Black, Regulus." McGonagall announced drawing me out of my daydreams. I turned to look at Sirius, who was sitting with the rest of the boys, farther down from the heads table than we were. I knew the Black family was extensive, so I wondered if this was someone he knew. I looked back to the younger boy on the stool. It became clear to me at once who he was. He looked exactly like Sirius; I could tell that, even from the distance we were from him, he was Sirius's brother. I had known Sirius had a brother, he mentioned him in passing, but not that he was this close in age.

"Slytherin!"

When the hat called out the house, I saw Regulus glance towards our table quickly, but then turn towards the table cloaked in green and silver. I looked at Sirius again, to see his reaction. He looked disappointed momentarily, but not surprised. The sorting continued but none of the other first years caught my attention. Soon enough the food appeared on our plates, and I said a secret prayer that Sirius and James wouldn't try to reenact last years feast.

"Was that one of Sirius's relatives?" Xylina asked me when we were eating. We had been talking about the amount of first years this year. It was smaller than our class, and there were only about five Gryffindors.

"I'm pretty sure it was his brother actually." I said.

"I didn't know Sirius had a younger brother. He acts like he is a younger sibling, or at least an only child." Lily said, "A spoilt one at that."

The three of us laughed, as well as Marline and Hanna. A couple of the older students gave us looks, and that just caused us to laugh harder.

* * *

><p>"Nicole! They put it up! It's up!" I heard James yell from behind as I walked towards class. We had the period before Defense off, and I had spent it in the library, getting my potions essay done for early the next week. Classes had only been going for a few days, but already the work was starting. It was so different from first year, when we had had a few weeks to acclimate to the school.<p>

"Did you hear me?" James questioned when he reached the point where I had waited for him. I nodded, with a smile and roll of my eyes. I knew exactly what he was talking about. "They posted the open Quidditch positions for this year."

"Two beater spots, a keeper, and a chaser." I recited to him, as we continued to walk down the hall. "A lot of the team was 7th years I take it. I didn't realize we were that dependent on the older students."

"They weren't that bloody good anyway, only won us a game last year. But how did you know the positions? I didn't see you in the common room, unless you were under the cloak?" He whispered the last part.

"Jamsie, Jamsie, Jamsie. When will you learn that I have my methods?" I teased him.

"She saw Tatting on her way to put it up, and asked to see. Watched her from the stairs." Sirius chimed in from behind us, and then ran off down the hallway.

"Sirius you git! You didn't need to tell him that." I called out after him, but laughing.

"So, you're trying out then?" James questioned, not one to let the subject drop.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Nicole!" He whined, and I gave him a look. "Tryouts are on Saturday, and it's already Wednesday, you only have a couple days left to decide. Hurry up already."  
>I am sure he would have continued to complain, had we not arrived at the classroom. It was our first class of Defense against the Dark Arts for the year. We had a new teacher, which only helped to prove the superstitious older students correct in their theory of the position being cursed, and it would be our first experience with him.<p>

I walked in to the class and glanced around the room. My entire goal at this point was to _not_ sit next to James, and to avoid being questioned about Quidditch for any longer. I saw an empty seat next to Remus, and high tailed it towards him.

"Hello Nicole. Ready for our first lesson with Professor… Fletwock?" He hesitated when he looked down to check the teachers name on our schedules. I nodded, and then Remus dropped his voice and whispered to me. "Thanks for sitting next to me. I guess, after last year's class, I need the support in case _it_ gets brought up again."

"That, and I don't think I could handle sitting James in another class." Remus laughed, the smile brightening his face. I smirked in return.

"He's on about Quidditch again?" He questioned. I nodded rolling my eyes, but turned my attention to the opening door in the front of the room. A lady in swishy blue robes strutted out. She was tall and twirling her wand around her fingers.

"Morning class. Welcome to DADA, your second year of it in fact. I'm Professor Fletwock, as you have hopefully read on your schedules. I am the new teacher, replacing Oakrige. Your last year's professor, as you've probably heard by now, opted to go and take up an opportunity to do field research." I watched her curiously, trying to figure out what type of teacher she would be. "I'll be joining you for the year and the year only. I am happy to be here though."

"Why only the year?" A Ravenclaw boy in the pack piped up. She narrowed her eyes at him, but not maliciously. It was almost a teasing glare.

"Why not?" She smirked a little. "Now last year, from what I can tell, you covered mainly magical creatures, and how to defend yourself from them. While that is important, this _is not_ Care of Magical Creatures. It is, however, defense against the dark arts. So in your second year of studies, we will, mainly, be focusing on spell work." She turned and waved her wand, causing words to appear on the board.

_First assignment: Find a first year spell defense spell that you are interested in. Have the spell, and the definition of what it does, on a parchment at our next lesson._

"This is step one in our work at reclaiming your lost time. You all will be choosing a spell that you should have learned in your first year and over the next months be doing all types of research and practice on it. Then you and I will together teach the class the spell." She looked at the blank stares that had filled all our faces expectedly. "Alright? Well off with you now. Class dismissed, do research in the library or such. Our next lesson is first thing tomorrow, so I would advise you get to work choosing your spell."

She waved off the curious looks and quiet whispers, then turned and went back in her office. When the door clicked shut, we all still sat there looking at each other. I turned to Remus,

"Is she serious?" I questioned.

"No, I am!" Sirius called from his seat next to Peter on the other side of the room.

"Pete, you can hit him." I replied. Peter looked between me and Sirius, trying to decide whether I had been (kill me) serious, with my request. I rolled my eyes at his slightly terrified look, and looked back at Remus.

"I suppose. I mean, it sounds like a fair project. Shall we?" He started to put his books back in his bag. I shrugged and did the same. Soon so was the rest of the class, and with one last glance at the office door, we walked out. "To the library then?"

"Nu-uh." I shook my head. "Common room. I brought my first year texts with me in case I needed them for reference. All the spells we are supposed to learn in first year DADA are in the book. We can gather then gang, and get the assignment done real quick."

"Brilliant." Remus smiled. We turned at the next staircase, going towards the common room instead of the library, like most of the rest of the class. I waved the other three boys over, and scanned the group for the girls. I couldn't see them anywhere. "They might have gone a different way?"

"I guess so." I said to Remus's suggestion. "Oh well, let's go."

Our group tromped its way up to the common room, and Remus explained to the others my wonderful idea while I went to go get my book. When I was up in the dormitory I ran in to none other than the two girls I had been looking for only moments ago.

Lily was elbow deep in her trunk, digging through what seemed to be a mountain of books (And people said I read a lot), while Xylina was unhelpfully leaning on the window nearby. When the door shut they looked up and we all giggled a little.

"First year text?" I asked.

"Great minds think alike." Lily replied. With a grunt of success, she pulled out "The Dark Forces; A Guide to Self Protection". I likewise trotted over to my trunk and dug around for my book. Soon the three of us were heading down to do our research with the boys.

* * *

><p>"So are you trying out?" James nagged from behind the high backed chair I sat in. Lily glared at him from the seat next to me, his constant annoyances only adding to her dislike of him, and Xylina dropped her head onto the book in front of her with exasperation. I'd become pretty good at ignoring him at this point. It was Friday evening I was helping Xylina finish the aforementioned potions essay.<p>

"James, would you give it a rest already?" Sirius said from where he and the other boys were sitting. It wasn't in their preferred spot right near the fire, a couple of sixth years had stolen it, and Sirius was shooting daggers in their direction. Remus was currently involved in winning a game of wizard's chess against Peter.

"Never! She won't tell me." The bespectacled boy pouted. I rolled my eyes at him then turned back to the girls.

"We can work on the essay tomorrow 'lina. Let's call it a night." She nodded, looking grateful for the reprieve. Potions was _not _her best subject. "Good night boys. See you tomorrow."

When we had reached the dorm Lily turned the glare she normally reserved for James on me. I stepped back in surprise at first, then glared right back.

"Can I help you with something Evans?" I asked, teasing making my voice light.

"You know as well as I do that you are trying out for that blasted Quidditch team tomorrow, so I just don't understand why you don't end all our suffering and tell Potter that."

"It's over tomorrow morning. Get over it." I threw a pillow at her and that was that.

**AN: Hey guys. I'm back. Finally right? I get it. Well here is the next chapter, and I'm hoping to get the next one done pretty quickly (no promises though). Umm I don't have much to say.**

**Love**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Enjoy**

James finally figured out that I was trying out for the team when I showed up to breakfast early the next morning. The way his face lit up you would think that I had given him the best birthday gift ever.

"I knew it, you're trying out!" He jumped up when I walked into the great hall and sat down across from him at the table "Now I don't have to try out alone."

"What am I, chop liver?" Sirius questioned with a frown and a mouth full of toast. I bumped my shoulder into him playfully and laughed.

"You could never be chop liver Sirius." Then I grabbed a bagel off the table and started to munch on it as James continued to tell us how he had known I was trying out. Soon enough the three of us, along with a number of other students. Most were second years, but a couple of older students were among the crowd. We reached the pitch and all the second years looked around in amazement. We had been to nearly all (James had never missed one) the Quidditch games last year, but none of us had ever had the opportunity to be on the ground looking up at the pitch. It was a different perspective that was for sure.

In the middle of the field the current team was stationed. They all were wearing their practice robes, two were fooling around, shooting sparkles at one another. I nudged Sirius, and whispered that we needed to learn how to do that. Standing in the front of the group, leaning on her broom and watching us all approach, was Sarah Tatting. I could tell already that she was eyeing us up, judging our size, our posture, even our walk to see if we would be up to par for her team.

"You know who I am, and I'm not concerned about who you are, until you get on my team that is. We lost more than half of our team from last year, and now I need to choose four of you from this lot to make up for it." She turned around to look at the two boys behind her. When she saw both of them covered from head to toe in glitter, she frowned. "Rumhil, Briant, clean yourselves up. Briant, you're taking the beaters, Rumhil the keepers."

In moments they were cleaned up, and calling each position over towards them. I laughed a little to myself as I walked towards Briant. A seeker was as distant from a beater as a Red Socks and Yankees fans in my opinion. When I looked around the group that had clustered, I found I was one of only two girls trying out for the positions.

"Alright. Lets see how well you can fly." Briant had us go for laps around the pitch. After he had us work in partners to see how well we could handle teamwork and the bludgers. Sirius and I partnered up, and I thought we worked pretty well together. The group of beaters, despite it being a tad larger than the others due to two positions being open, was actually finished first. We all gathered up in the stands to watch the rest of the tryouts. Sirius and I payed special attention to James in his chaser tryouts. He had told me earlier that I had talked him out of waiting for the seeker position, which pleased me plenty.

Soon enough we were all standing down on the field. Most of us were sweaty messes, some of the students who tried out for beater positions even had burses forming. The three who were already on the team didn't look nearly as exhausted as the rest of us.

"Thank you for coming out. It was a good tryout, and I am looking forward to working with some of you. The roster will be posted tomorrow morning, along with the practice schedule for the season. Good luck." Tatting nodded and dismissed us. I was grinning like a fool as we made our way up to the castle.

"_Brandy, you're a fine girl, what a good wife you would be. But my life, my love, and my lady is the sea_!" I sang as I walked up the hill with James and Sirius.

"Nicole, what in the world are you singing?" Sirius gave me an incredulous look.

"Brandy. Heard it on the radio at home, and popped into my head." I replied happily. "_There's a port on a western bay, and it serves a hundred ships a day. Lonely sailors pass the time away, and talk about their homes._"

"Is she always going to be like this after we fly?" James asked laughing as I continued to sing. Sirius shrugged and joined in singing the chorus. That is how we ended up walking into the common room, James rolling his eyes, while Sirius and I had our arms slung over each other and screaming Brandy. Xylina looked up from the table in the corner where we (the girls) usually sat. Both Peter and Remus were with her, but Lily was nowhere to be found.

"What did you do to her?" Remus questioned while Peter just looked a little scared. "I mean, Sirius I expect, but…"

All three of them stared at Sirius and I. We were still draped over one another, but now we were just laughing. James joined in our laughter, and that just earned us even more strange looks. I untangled myself from Sirius and plopped down in a chair.

"That was fun. Anyway, how was your morning? And early afternoon I suppose?" I realized what time it was, surprised that the tryouts had taken so long.

"It was fine. And yours? What position did you try out for Nicole?" Xylina questioned.

"I went out for beater along with Sirius."

"You didn't even tell the girls that you were trying out?" James questioned.

"No. They knew. I just kept it from you to be mean." I ruffled James's hair, instantly regretting it, because it was still matted in sweat. I wiped it off on Remus, who shouted indignantly in response. "I didn't decide until this morning what position. When we had to divide up, I felt like playing beater, even if we had to try out with a seeker."

"You are a strange creature Nicole." I shrugged in response, then went upstairs to shower off. I was gross.

"Are you sure about this?" I whispered to James from where we hid in a broom closet outside of the teachers room. I was starting to doubt the benefits of pranking the teachers. He hushed me, and we waited for a few more minutes. Soon enough all the teachers came walking out from their early morning staff meeting. They were all heading down to breakfast. Quietly we whispered the spell, glitter came flying down from the cealing on top of all of them. As they all tried to brush it off, James and I started to giggle. I managed to stifle my laughter for a few moments, long enough to send up the other spell we had planned. A message appeared floating in the air, with the same glitter that covered them.

_Don't waste your energy._

_The glitter will come off in few hours,_

_we just thought we could all use_

_a bright start to the morning._

_Yours Truly_

The teachers faces were priceless. Soon enough they sighed and left. James and I waited a moment before climbing out of the closet.

"That was great." I said to the black haired boy next to me.

"It should be even better if everybody else did it." He said referring to the fact the students of the school should be getting glitterified right about now. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Xylina (We had roped her into this one) were supposed to be setting up the spell to hit every student who walked into the great hall. James and I had made sure to get all the teachers, because Slughorn and Haffon (He taught runes) were notorious for not showing up to breakfast.

"Well let's go see." We rushed off down the hallway towards the great hall. Once we arrived we saw the light coming from the ceiling was shimmering of every student. The walls of the hall looked like there were a hundred disco balls in the room. James and I had likewise become covered in glitter as we entered the hall.

"This was brilliant." Sirius said to James as we sat down.

"I know." James replied, ever the egotistical child he was. Lily had apparently caught that, and turned to look at the bespectacled boy.

"I should have known this was your fault. It's always your fault isn't it Potter!" She yelled, but not loudly enough to be heard over the amusement flowing through the room. Most everyone seemed to be enjoying the fun. James frowned at her anger, but soon moved on to other things.

Sharp steps brought us out of our conversations minutes later. McGonagall had her eyes set on our group with a raptor like stare. I swallowed a little harder, and elbowed James in the side. He grunted, then followed my path of sight.

"Mr.'s Back and Pettigrew I expected, but not you Mr. Lupin, or you Miss Vasil. I would like to see the four of you, along with Miss Tallo and Mr. Potter in my office in a few moments." She gave us each a stern look before walking out of the hall. We looked at each other in confusion as to how she had found out, then it clicked.

"None of you have glitter on you. It only gets on you as you walk into the hall, and you casted the spell once you were already in here." I said as I realized it. We all stood up and started to walk to McGonagall's office. Remus turned to me, a question on his face.

"But you and James came in after the fact. How did she know you were involved?"

"I guess she just assumed we were. I mean, someone had to be around the teachers room to cast the spell there." I shrugged. She knew, it didn't really matter how she knew, because she already knew. We were silent for the rest of the walk, wondering what type of detention we would be receiving.

"You will be getting two days of detention. Tomorrow and Wednesday evenings at seven o'clock. You are dismissed." McGonagall told us after explaining to the group how what we had done was wrong, and all the rules that it had broken. We all started to walk out of the room. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Miss Tallo, I would like for you to stay back a moment."

The three of us looked at one another for a moment, and waved the others to go on. They gave us curious looks, and we just shrugged. I personally had no idea what she could want to talk to us about. This was the first thing we had done this year that could possibly get us in trouble.

"Professor, have we done something?" I asked curiously.

"Nothing other than today's incident as far as I'm aware." She said, sitting down behind her desk. "Your Wednesday detention is being moved to Thursday to accommodate your schedules. And further incidents will lead me to remove the three of you from practice in the future. Take this as a warning."

"Practice?" I muttered, confused. I looked to James and Sirius to see if they knew what our head of house was talking about.

"I take it you left the common room earlier than Tatting placed the results this morning then. You three made the quidditch team, congratulations." She nodded kindly, her face softening. "Now you may leave."

My eyes widened as I took in what she had said. The three of us walked quietly out of her office. But as soon as we reached the hallway my face broke into a huge grin. I looked to my left and right to see Sirius and James's faces. They were like mirrors of my own. Without speaking, the three of us took off running for the common room to confirm what the Professor had just said. We buzzed by Xylina, Peter, and Remus on our way. I heard them call after us, but we ignored them for the moment.

We sprinted straight to the announcement board in the common room where the results would be posted. And there it was. Our names cleanly written along with a third year for the keeper.

"I never would have imagined. High five me guys." I said a little numb with shock. Our first practice was scheduled for that Wednesday evening.

"Would one of you like to explain what that was about? You actually knocked poor Peter here over in your rush." Xylina lectured us. The girl sounded like Lily when she did that. I moved to the side and pointed at the sheet of parchment tacked to the board. She looked confused for a moment, but stepped closer to read. Then her face cleared and brightened. "Oh! You made the team, congratulations guys! I'm proud of you!"

Peter and Remus came over to see why Xylina was squealing and hugging us so tightly, especially after we had all just gotten two nights of detention.

"This calls for celebration!" Sirius announced when they were offering their congrats. "Peter, you and I are off on a mission to the kitchens!"

Peter who was still a little befuddled from being run over started at his name being called out so suddenly. He quickly gathered himself and nodded, and they were off. We sat and chatted for the rest of the evening.

**AN: Sorry all! I know, I've disappeared for a long time, but it is what it is. I'm back and that's what's important! Well not much to say on this one. **

**Love**


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